Veteran Punjabi film actor Nirmal Rishi receives Padma Shri
Chandigarh, October 23: Asserting that the industry in Punjab did not want to go the Delhi way, the Punjab Congress on Sunday reacted to Arvind Kejriwal’s promise to promote the industry in the election-bound state `on the pattern of Delhi’ by listing out his government’s failures in the national capital.
If the AAP government’s track record in Delhi was anything to go by, trade and industry in Punjab had a lot to worry about, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) said in a statement issued here, asking Kejriwal to set his own house in order before setting his sights on Punjab.
It was ironical, said the PPCC, that AAP had described its Punjab industry manifesto as “A promise to promote honest business in Punjab like AAP government doing in Delhi.” “If they are really planning to do in Punjab what they are doing in Delhi then there is really no hope for trade and industry in this state,” said the Punjab Congress leaders.
Along with virtually all sectors of economic growth, industries in Delhi are struggling to survive under the AAP regime, said Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPC) leaders Rana Gurjit Singh, Kewal Singh Dhillon and O.P Soni in a statement issued here.
They described AAP’s promise of ending inspector raj a joke, given the fact that during its 49-day rule in Delhi in 2014, the AAP government had led 151 raids – a clear manifestation of its `inspector raj’ mentality.
The promise of reduced VAT is another farce played on by AAP on Delhi, and which Kejriwal is now planning to do in Punjab, said the PPCC leaders, pointing out that not only had his government in Delhi brought at least 11 products under VAT, but he had also allowed VAT rates up to 30% in Delhi, going a step ahead to hike VAT on petrol and diesel by at least 2% in 2016.
On the AAP manifesto’s promise to simplify tax procedures and VAT filing, the PPCC leaders pointed out that the Delhi precedent was hardly conducive to a simplified regime. The Delhi Sugam-1 (DS-1) form brought in by AAP government mandates every trader to submit 17 kinds of details in a prescribed format for each invoice. Apart from creating compliance hurdles, this has also adversely affected interstate movement of goods.
Further, for all his claims about lowering electricity tariffs in Punjab, Kejriwal should explain why the power tariffs for industries in Delhi stand at Rs. 9.02- 9.92 per unit – higher than neighbouring Haryana, and higher than even the rate for small scale power in Punjab.
The PPCC leaders asked Kejriwal to explain his broken promise of regularization of all unauthorized colonies within a year of coming to power in Delhi.
Before promising revival of the real estate sector in Punjab, Kejriwal should answer why Delhi-NCR had the highest number of unsold units in the first quarter of 2016-2017, with as many as 2.65 lakh houses unsold, the PPCC leaders demanded know, asking what steps the AAP government had taken to arrest the housing sector slump in Delhi.
The AAP promise of depoliticizing the transport sector in Punjab also came under scanner by the PPCC leaders, who pointed out that Kejriwal’s own ex transport minister Gopal Rai had been caught in a transport scam in Delhi. Another Rs. 100 crore transport scam involved Rajendra Kumar, secretary to the Delhi CM, they pointed out, asking how such a dispensation could be trusted to clean up the transport mafia in Punjab.
While he is speaking of lowering taxes in Punjab, the fact is that transporters in Delhi are suffering a double blow from green tax and enhanced toll taxes under his regime.
Eradication of the liquor mafia is another promise which has no feet to stand on, said the PPCC leaders, pointing to the fact that the Delhi government had granted license to nearly 400 liquor shops without taking public consent.
On the tourism sector – another area of Kerjriwal’s Punjab industry manifesto focus, the Punjab Congress leaders said as of March 2016, 94% of the money allocated by his government in Delhi for the tourism sector in Budget 2015-16 had remained unspent.
Further, said the PPCC leaders, not only had the Kejriwal government failed to implement Street Vendors Act but 5 lakh rehri-pattri walahs had been facing harassment and forceful evictions in Delhi, triggering strong protests by the hawkers there.
Even in terms of tackling unemployment, the AAP government in Delhi was way behind its target of 8 lakh jobs, having given only 1417 jobs till date.
The list of Kejriwal’s anti-industry moves in Delhi is a long one, which only goes to show that AAP is in no way capable of resolving Punjab’s industrial problems, which have already assumed grave proportions under the Badal rule, said the PPCC leaders. They warned the trading and industrial community in Punjab to be wary of Kejriwal’s false and misleading promises in their own interest, and in the interest of the progress of Punjab.
The party dismissed Kejriwal’s tall claims in the manifesto as a big bundle of lies, which will put the industries in Punjab, already reeling under severe de-growth under the Badal regime, on the path to irretrievable damage.
