Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, January 1: People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal today called upon the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal to withdraw party representative Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the NDA government at the centre headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lodge its strong protest against the denial of drought relief to the state. He slammed it as yet another discrimination by the Modi government against Punjab.
“It is shocking that the centre has turned down the plea of the Parkash Singh Badal government in Punjab seeking Rs 2260 crore as drought relief this fiscal and Rs 1500 crore the previous year while sanctioning Rs 6800 crore financial package for five other states. The people want to know as to how long Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would go on tolerating this blatant discrimination from the very government in which his own family member is a cabinet rank minister. He must withdraw the Akali Dal representative from the union cabinet to register strong protest against continuing apathetic attitude of Modi towards Punjab”, he said.
He said the state has been witnessing the highest ever incidence of suicides by farmers, especially in the cotton belt but still that centre has refused to come to the rescue of the very people who made the country self-sufficient in food ending dependence on imports. The Chief Minister earlier used to blame the Congress for discrimination with Punjab at every level but here was the government that was proving to be worse despite the fact that the Akali Dal was an alliance partner.
The former finance minister also took the Badal government to task for its refusal to foot internet bills of the schools across the state contrary to the repeated rhetoric of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal that there was no shortage of funds. He said here was a basic necessity in the modern age whose funding has been refused while tall claims were being made of providing 4 G connectivity to every village. He said this amounted to denying basic facilities to the students in the government schools and reflect poorly on the government. He asked as to with what face the deputy chief minister has been making tall claims of availability of funds.
