Squarely blaming the Congress party for putting financial burden on the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today said that the Congress has no moral right to demand a ‘white paper’ on this matter.Interacting with the media persons here at the newly constructed Adarsh School, the Chief Minister said that Punjab being a border state has suffered the brunt of partition but the Congress party had further derailed the state’s economy through the sinister move of putting the entire burden of expenditure meted by the central security forces during the black days of militancy on the state exchequer. Likewise, he said that the mass exodus of industry took place from the state after the Congress government gave tax incentives to the neighboring states. Mr. Badal said that not only this but the successive Congress governments at the centre meted out step motherly treatment with the state, which was a major setback for the state’s economy. “It is shameful that the perpetrators of this major damage to Punjab are today blaming us for the mess created by them” he added.
Replying to another query, the Chief Minister said that in democracy every party has the right to expand its political base so there was nothing wrong if BJP’s central leadership was focusing on the state. He said that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has no objection if its alliance partner was holding functions to consolidate its mass base in the state. Mr. Badal said that the SAD-BJP alliance was firm and everlasting as both the alliance partners have full faith and trust on each other. “Our relations are cordial and smooth because BJP leadership know it well that only SAD had stood with them during their turbulent times” he added. Justifying the imposition of cess on Petrol and Diesel in the state, the Chief Minister said that it was must for giving further fillip to the massive ongoing development of the state. He said that the state government was committed for the overall development and welfare of the state due to which levying of this cess was necessitated. Mr. Badal also said that soon all the northern states would have uniform tax stricture in the region, for which all of them had agreed.On another query, the Chief Minister said that law would take its own course in the case of Parminder Singh Pinki.
Meanwhile in a major move aimed at giving impetus to the education in the Kandi region, the Chief Minister asked them make concerted efforts for starting the session in the newly constructed Adarsh School at the earliest. He said that it was the need of the hour so that the students of this region could be imparted quality education. Mr. Badal also visited the newly constructed Mahant Ram Parkash Dass Government College.Later during his visit at C-Pyte Center, the Chief Minister announced to equip these centers with the computer facility so that students could be provided training for the clerical exams. He said that these centers, which were currently imparting training for entry in Armed forces, would be developed as ‘Integrated Hubs’ for opening new vistas of employment for the youth. Mr. Badal also asked the authorities to extend the training period of youth in these centres from currently 8 weeks to 12 weeks. The Chief Minister was accompanied by MLAs Mrs. Sukhjit Kaur Sahi and Mr. Surinder Singh Bhullewalrathan, Chairman Zila Parishad and President Youth Akali Dal (Doaba Zone ) Mr. Sarabjot Singh Saabi, his Special Principal Secretary Mr. KJS Cheema, Deputy Inspector General of Police Kunwar Vijay Partap and Deputy Commissioner Mrs. Anandita Mitra.