Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal today strongly condemned the decision of the Parkash Singh Badal government in the state to pay only basic salary to the new recruits during the first two years saying it would not only affect governance but also breed corruption.
“This decision has conclusively proved that the Punjab government has become bankrupt and there is no hope of improvement in the situation over the years. What is all the more ironic that the state government has resorted to this extreme step when the Akali Dal is partner in the government at the centre and the Chief Minister had been promising in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections free flow of funds to the state after Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister”, he added.
Manpreet expressed the apprehension in a statement that it would not matter much in the departments or posts that were considered lucrative but at the same time, it would further breed corruption. The BJP government at the centre had been laying stress on ending corruption and providing transparent governance but the state government in which this party was a partner was only institutionalising corruption through such decisions. This was now also clear that the Badal government had lost all hope of getting financial assistance from the centre.
He asked as to why experts and specialists like engineers and doctors would be attracted to the government service on basic salary when they could get much more money in the private sector which was expanding at a fast pace. This might affect the quality of governance in the long run.
The former finance minister proposed that the both the civil and the police administration in the state were top heavy. It was difficult to count the DGPs and Additional DGPs, forget the number of IGs. The law and order situation, on the other hand, continued to deteriorate despite such a top heavy structure. Similar was the case with the civil administration. He said the government should have gone in for cuts at this level rather than starting with the savings at the lowest level.
He said on the one hand, it was being claimed that Punjab was among the most peaceful states in the country but on the other, the superstructure created during militancy by way of additional police districts continued to exist. In civil administration, small and smaller districts had been created which had only added burden on the state exchequer without improving the quality of governance.
