Sukhbir slams Punjab CM for 'wasting' Rs 25 crore on advertisements

Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Saturday condemned Punjab Chief MinisterBhagwant Mann for 'wasting' Rs 25 crore in a single day to highlight the so called achievements of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on completion of one and a half years in government.

Calling the bluff, the SAD President rubbished each and every so-called achievement listed in front page advertisements in all prominent newspapers. He said AAP would be held to account for looting the state exchequer, once the SAD formed the government in the state.

“This government has released more than Rs 750 crore on advertisements out of which more than 25 per cent has been taken back by AAP functionaries in the form of commission, besides other misuse of government funds.”

Badal accused the government of taking an unprecedented loan of Rs 50,000 crore but not doing anything to establish any infrastructure like a thermal plant, road or irrigation project even as social welfare schemes like old-age pension and ‘shagun’ had been curtailed and Punjabis were getting wheat only from the Centre and not the AAP government.

Exposing the claims of the Chief Minister on each and every point listed in the advertisement, Badal said, “The Chief Minister has claimed that 37,000 government jobs have been given to youth but failed to list the jobs. While a few thousand jobs have been given, outsiders have mostly benefited from the same.”

He said how out of 1,370 jobs given by PSPCL, 534 candidates had been recruited from Haryana and 94 from Rajasthan. He said similarly six out of seven Sub Inspectors who were recruited in Punjab Police were from Haryana.

“The health systems corporation recruited 300 outsiders while the Animal Husbandry Department gave jobs to 134 outsiders.”

Ridiculing the AAP government for claiming it had established world-class health facilities, the SAD President said “the government has pasted a picture of a Sewa Centre established by the erstwhile SAD government which has been turned into a Mohalla Clinic now. I want to ask the Chief Minister how a Mohalla Clinic with one doctor and one nurse on its rolls can be termed as a world class facility?”

He said similarly the AAP government had claimed to have turned around the education sector by establishing a school of excellence which was nothing but a repainted version of a meritorious school established by former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Questioning the Rs 50,000 crore investment claim made by the Chief Minister, Badal said the government has failed to list the name of any major company which has invested in the state.

“We all know the Chief Minister’s track record in this field. He is on record to have claimed that BMW will invest in Punjab which was promptly denied by the company,” Badal added.