Referring to the relief announced by the Centre for some states like Gujarat, Maharashta and Haryana in view of drought like situation, Badal said "it is unfortunate that Punjab was deliberately left out of its ambit despite the fact that this food bowl of the country was adversely affected due to the deficit rainfall."
Earlier this week, the Centre had announced a relief package to states facing drought-like situation which included Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
This discriminatory attitude of the Union government is a testimony of injustice meted out by the Centre which has caused widespread resentment in the minds of people, Badal told reporters at Meeranpur after inaugurating a college under Punjabi University, Patiala.
However, Badal also said that he had already taken up the matter with the Prime Minister and Union Agricultural Minister seeking a relief of Rs 2,380 crore from the Centre.
He expressed hope that the state would benefit from the scheduled visit of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to the state on August 10 to assess the drought situation.
Badal also held the "poor financial management" of the Union government solely responsible for the "fiscal mess across the nation."
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"The officials of the Union government frame the policies for the country while sitting in their plush air conditioned offices, without caring about the needs and ground realities of the country," he said.
Assailing the Union government for "ignoring" the welfare of people by formulating policies without consulting the state governments, the chief minister said the tendency of Centre "to usurp the powers of the state governments was very dangerous as it not only violated the fundamental principles of democracy but also weakened the federal structure of the country". MORE