Full loan wavier of Farmers, drug eradication within a month, job for each household, Rs. 2500 unemployment allowance and smart phones for youth, Rs. 1500 pension for the elderly- the Congress made all sorts of promises in order to come into power. Now, even after completion of 6 months in office, these promises are yet to be fulfilled. Farmers, labourers, dalits, urban and rural masses, women, elderly, poor- all are feeling cheated in Congress’ 180 days of rule. This was stated here today by Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Harjit Singh Grewal and Punjab BJP secretary Vineet Joshi while releasing a report card on completion of Capt. Amarinder Singh’s 6 months in office.Captain’s six months in office have been that of betrayal, shattered dreams and false hope in the real sense. During these 180 days if Captain and his ministers have achieved something, it is looting Punjab, indulging in political vendetta, beating up their opponents, atrocities on dalits, gangwars, electricity cuts, protests, road jams, atrocities on women, sacrilege, damage to acres of crop owing to negligence, ruining parliamentary traditions, humiliating martyrs, bolstering VIP culture and loot by private schools. The hard-toiling farmer of Punjab has lost all hope. During the first month of Capt. Amarinder Singh’s government, a suicide by a farmer was reported every second day. Now, after 6 months, two farmers are ending their lives daily. 237 farmers have committed suicide in Captain’s 180 days of rule. A farmer of village Tedakalan in Ajnala Tehsil, Major Singh in his suicide note has clearly held the Congress government responsible for his misfortune. What is even more appalling is that the families of the suicide victims have to sit on dharnas for compensation. Already hurt by Congress’ betrayal, the people of Punjab are now facing the brunt of government’s ministers, who are neglecting their departments.Every minister of Capt. Amarinder Singh government has failed during these 6 months.
Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has failed as the accounts of Punjab government once got froze. GST has been implemented throughout the country, but why only the Punjab government has delayed the salaries? Even after Captain's announcement on 16th June in the assembly and allocation of budget by Finance minister, banks are yet to receive the amounts for farm loan waiver and youths are still awaiting smart phones. After coming into power, all the developmental works initiated by the previous Akali-BJP government were stopped mid-way and the money allocated was recalled. Irrigation minister Rana Gurjit Singh has also failed because he was ineffective in cleaning the 1500 km drain network in the state leading to flooding of acres of farmland on arrival of rains. His love for sand dragged the farmers into misery. Education minister Aruna Chowdhary too has failed. Even after six months, neither did the text books reach schools, nor the school uniforms. Parents are locking up the gates of schools owing to shortage of teachers and mid-day meals may even close down due to departmental negligence. There are two such schools in her Assembly constituency which are running from temples. Not only this, in her home district of Gurdaspur, 25 schools are operating without any government buildings. One who can’t take care of her home district and constituency, how can she handle the state?SC & BC Welfare minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot is a failure. Students are not getting the funds under Centre-sponsored post matric scholarship. As promised in the poll manifesto, homeless dalits haven’t been provided homes, each dalit household is awaiting a job, the amount under Shagun scheme is yet to be increased to 51000, a loan waiver of Rs. 50000 for poor SCs is yet to be materialized, free electricity up to 300 units hasn’t been provided and the job backlog hasn’t been cleared so far.
Technical education minister Charanjeet Singh Channi too has failed because he unsuccessfully tried to camouflage the job festivals organised by private colleges as Punjab government’s initiative of providing jobs to unemployed youth under his Ghar-Ghar Naukri plank. However, what he didn’t realize is that the colleges have been doing so since many years by organizing such employment fairs. Also, these Rozgar Melas too are a failure in themselves because MA, B.Tech and engineering graduates are being offered jobs of peons, labourers and guards with a meager salary of 6000 rupees. Parliamentary Affairs minister Brahm Mohindra has failed because the government ruined parliamentary traditions by not allowing the Opposition MLAs to speak and instead forcibly threw them out of the Vidhan Sabha. This incident also tore apart the Panthic principles as turbans, ‘Dastaars’ of MLAs came off and women MLAs had to face embarrassment.Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa failed because the Congress had promised to strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions in its poll manifesto, but instead the Amarinder government is planning to amend the Panchayati Raj Act, thereby withdrawing the power to remove Sarpanchs or Panchs from Director Panchayts and according it to the Deputy Commissioners. This will be detrimental to the interests of farmers and villagers. Social security minister Razia Sultan too has failed. Leave aside fulfilling its promise of providing a pension or Rs. 1500 per month to elderly, widows and the specially-abled, the Congress is not even providing Rs. 500 per month pension to about 19 lakh beneficiaries in the state.
Analysis of the three main poll promises:
Full loan waiver to farmers: Failed
Backing out from his promise of full loan waiver, first Capt. Amarinder Singh announced a partial loan waiver in the Vidhan Sabha on June 19 and then Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal allocated a meager Rs 1500 crores in the Budget, but ever since the government hasn’t given anything in writing to the banks. Till the government gives it in writing to the banks, the loans don’t get waived off. Then why make such fake announcements?
Eradicating drugs within a month: Failed
Capt. Amarinder Singh’s and Punjab Congress Chief Sunil Jhakhar’s claim of weeding out drugs and controlling the gangsters have fallen flat after their own MLA, Surjit Singh Dhiman stated that drugs were easily available in every street of Punjab. Dhiman had pointed towards the nexus of Congress leaders and police in the sale of narcotics in the state. Not only this, a drug smuggler in Taran Tarn is running his drug trade with the help of two Congress MLAs and this is clear from his audio recording. Also, opium farming by a Congress leader in Taran Tarn’s Khemkaran has revealed the truth.
Ghar-Ghar Naukri, Smartphone: Failed
The Congress government tried to fool the people by providing jobs to youths by putting up its hoardings at Rozgar Melas organized by various private colleges. Smartphones haven’t been disbursed even after provision was made in the Budget. The government seems to be going back on its promise of Rs. 2500 unemployment allowance too.