Congress govt has failed to keep its promises: SAD

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today alleged that the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government had "failed" to keep its poll promises and that farmers in the state were still "waiting" for debt waiver.

The government has failed to waive farm loans despite a written commitment by the chief minister, which was handed over to farmers through forms, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal told reporters here.

This commitment was reiterated by Amarinder both inside and outside the Punjab assembly. Farmers are still waiting for waiver of loan worth Rs 90,000 crore, he claimed.

"The government has also raised the market fee and rural development cess. These will affect lakhs of farmers cultivating crops like basmati, cotton and vegetables, which are not covered by the MSP," the SAD leader said.
 

"I had earlier said that we will give time to the government to deliver. It will be completing its six months soon. Their six months can be best described as one in which they raised false hopes with false promises and indulged in blatant lies, fraud and betrayal," he said.

Sukhbir said that the SAD will take the state government to task and that his party's core committee would decide on an agitation programme onSeptember 16.

Highlighting the "injustices" being done to farmers, he claimed that 'kurki' (attachment of land) was still being done in the state as the government had not amended the relevant clause in the Revenue Act.

"More than 200 farmers have committed suicide, but no family has been given the Rs 10 lakh compensation or government jobs. The government is even resorting to petty politics by releasing balance payments of sugarcane procured from farmers in the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency as it is going for bypolls," the SAD leader said.

The government had promised around 10 lakh jobs every year under the 'ghar ghar naukari' programme, but till now only one job of Deputy Superintendent of Police has been given to an "over-age" person, who is former chief minister Beant Singh's grandson, Sukhbir claimed.

He alleged that the government had appropriated the routine placement drive by technical institutions as 'Rozgar Mela'.

"The credibility of the employment announcements could be seen from the one-page MoU signed with ASSOCHAM. The MoU does not even have a date," Sukhbir said, alleging that unemployment allowance of Rs 2,500 a month was not being given.

He said that now it is being claimed that the youth would be offered skill development courses instead of the allowance. "This is already being done under a central scheme. Whom is the Congress trying to fool?" Sukhbir asked.

The SAD president said that beneficiaries were not getting social welfare benefits, including old-age pension since January, and alleged that the Congress had failed the weaker sections.

"Welfare schemes such as medical insurance to farmers, cycles for girls, free 200 units of power to schedule caste (SC) households, scholarships for SCs students and the Mukh Mantri Teerath Yatra have been discontinued," he said.

He said it was even more disturbing that there was no sanctity of decisions taken by the Cabinet or those announced in the Assembly.

Announcements of free mobile phones, unemployment allowances and freezing electricity tariff at Rs 5 per unit for new and existing industry are yet to be implemented, he claimed.

Even a decision taken in the very first Cabinet meeting to regularise contractual and ad-hoc employees had not been implemented, Sukhbir said.

"The Cabinet decision to give free education to girls from primary to the PhD level has also not been implemented in this academic session. No money has been allocated for the Rs 100 crore start-up fund for youth which was announced by the chief minister in the assembly," he said.