The State Congress on Thursday dared Punjab Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to present before industrial houses the real picture of the State, and the mess created by SAD-BJP Government in seven years of its regime.
Commenting on Sukhbir’s current visit to Mumbai where he had met some leading Industrial houses, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa said that he, on his own, announced big investment by Reliance Group headed by Mukesh Ambani, TATA Group, Mahindra and Mahindra Group, Hinduja Group, Godrej and ADlABS, “while none of them have made any commitment nor issued any statement to authenticate the claims made by Deputy Chief Minister”.
“Sukhbir Badal is dream weaver who is building castles in the air merely to mislead the people of Punjab for upcoming Parliament Elections,” he added.
Making it clear that Congress was not against investment in Punjab but the way Sukhbir is trying to mislead industrial houses, Bajwa said that he was doing more damage than benefit to Punjab.
“Sukhbir needs to set his house in order before approaching investors. How can SAD-BJP Government invite investment in Industry without any industrial policy in place” he added.
Ridiculing Sukhbir’s statement that Ambani had agreed to give broadband connectivity to all schools and hospitals in Punjab, Bajwa said that SAD-BJP government, as a policy, closing the rural schools and shutting down rural and semi-urban hospitals to pave way for private players.
“Government schools are sans IT infrastructure and computer teachers, health department lacks specialist doctors and paramedical staff. We demand to first provide basic education and health services then only talk about high-end facilities,” he added.
Opposing the setting up of another private university here, Bajwa maintained that primary and higher secondary education needs immediate attention where drop out rate is about 74 per cent.
Visit state’s mandis to prevent ‘loot’ of farmers: Punjab cong directs sukhbir
Punjab Congress on Thursday advised junior Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, to visit the State ‘mandis’ to prevent ‘loot’ of farmers, instead of enjoying warm hospitality of corporate honchos in Mumbai.
“Junior Badal should wind up his Mumbai tour and take stock of the ongoing ‘loot’ of farmers of Punjab, as none of his so-called investment tour has ever yielded results till now. These are only public relations stunts to hoodwink and divert the attention of Punjabi’s from the real burning issues that the state is facing,” stated the party.
“It is a matter of great shame that the junior Badal has preferred to tour Mumbai to meet corporate giants, at a time when the farmers of Punjab are being forced to distress sale of their paddy crop. He should realise that it’s due to food grain production of farmers that Punjab stands out as a leading State of India and not because of Tata’s, Birla’s and Mahindra’s,” said party spokesperson Sukhpal Singh Khaira.
He added that there was “complete anarchy in the state’s mandis with blatant loot of farmers taking place by procurement agencies and rice sheller owners. Farmers are being forced to sell their hard earned paddy crop at Rs 250 to Rs 300 below the fixed MSP of Rs 1,345 per quintal”.
The level of frustration and demoralization amongst the farmers of Punjab is so high that few days back a poor farmer Harbans Singh died of a heart attack at a mandi in Ibrahimwal village (Kapurthala), unable to sell his produce at the MSP rate, he added.