Coming to the defence of his party’s Government on the issue of power tariff hike, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar on Friday categorically said that the ‘white elephants’ of Akali Dal were responsible for the enhancement of power rates in the State.
Jakhar, interacting with the media persons on the sidelines of investiture ceremony of newly appointed Punjab Agro Industries Corporation chairman Joginder Singh Mann, said that in form of thermal plants set up by the
Akali Government, underutilised assets were created just to corner benefit to the private players.
These were the real white elephants of the State, he added.
“Due to these underutilized liabilities, which could have cater to the need of State only for two months, the power tariff in the state has been enhanced,” said Jakhar while urging the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to get a thorough probe conducted for fixing the accountability of all those people who were responsible for this plunder of state exchequer.
Jakhar also urged the Chief Minister to appoint senior officer of the State Government to apprise the MLAs about the sins of the Akali-BJP Government in power sector.
“The MLAs would be further asked to make the people aware about the misdeeds of the Akalis,” said Jakhar adding that the Akalis would be made accountable for these sins and they would not be spared at any cost.Describing Punjab Chief Minister as saviour of water, Jakhar said that while Akalis had sold the rights of water to their friends, Capt Amarinder has always stood for saving the state’s water.
Vindicating the Chief Minister’s stand to include State in ‘Atal Bhujal Yojana’ for conservation of ground water resources, he said that it was the need of hour to save depleting ground water level.
However, Jakhar said that owing to anti-Punjab stance of BJP, the state has to be extra cautious while going into any such agreement.
“BJP Government has been usurping their rights of the states through their policy of excessive centralization due to which we must be careful to ensure the waters of the state are safeguarded,” he said.
At the same time, Jakhar also slammed the Modi Government for its divisive policies saying that all policies of the BJP-led Union Government, including CAA/NRC, were aimed at spreading hatred and disturbing communal harmony in the country.
Jakhar said that Congress has always stood for communal harmony, peace and brotherhood adding that anyone who deviates from the ideology was not associated with Congress.