Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Monday urged Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to intervene personally to stop the closure of 1600 people-centric Sewa Kendras in the State.
“These Kendras are meant to stop the people’s harassment in Government offices and eliminate the reasons for corruption,” said Sukhbir in his letter to the Chief Minister.
Sukhbir also attacked, what he called, “tughlakiya ideas” of the present Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, adding that Manpreet as Finance Minister in SAD-BJP government had openly advocated the abolition of all subsidies like free power to the farmers, old age and other pensions in the state, Shagun scheme and free power for dalits etc.
“But the Chief Minister in our Government firmly refused to burden the people of Punjab merely to help the Finance Minister to earn some brownie points with the arm chair economists. But will you succumb to this pressure is what people want to known,” Sukhbir asked Capt Amarinder.
Sukhbir wanted to know what profit did the Government want to earn from the poor and the needy who look at the Government as a “provider” of services while the Finance Minister looks it as finance company which must make profit out of every service it provides.
“The skewed ideas of Punjab Finance Minister may lead to closing down virtually every citizen-centric service in the State. The public transport system and the offices of the revenue officials, like Patwarkhanas, hospitals run at a loss by the Health Department, schools and colleges also a loss-making facility maintained for the benefit of the people as a citizen-centric service may have to be closed down,” said Sukhbir.
Sukhbir, in his letter, said that these services in Sewa Kendras were meant to protect the natural and constitutional right of the people to getting their routine works done without harassment or humiliation in government offices.
He stressed that it was the duty of the state to provide hassle free services to its citizens. “Sewa Kendras symbolize the Government’s resolve not only to provide these services but also the Government’s resolve to ensure that corruption by officials and middlemen in the name of facilitating people’s routine tasks was also effectively ended,” he said.