Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today rapped the Congress leaders for making the mockery of poor by issuing baseless statements that one could eat well at Rs 5.Talking to the media persons here today the Chief Minister said that on the one hand the Congress led UPA government has broken the back bone of the common man by massive hike in the prices of essential commodities and on the other hand its leaders were rubbing salt into the wounds of the poor by issuing such irrational statements. He said that these leaders owe an explanation to the people that how a poor person could get meal only at Rs 5 at a time when the cost of food items were already sky rocketing. Coming down heavily on the Union government Mr. Badal said that this anti-people government has made it difficult for the common man to survive.
The Chief Minister categorically said that once again it has been proved that the Congress led UPA government, which claims to be votary of common man, was in reality totally insensitive towards the problems faced by them. He said that such baseless statements were issued by the Congress leaders while sitting in their Air Conditioned offices without examining the ground reality, which further accentuate the woes of the poor people. Mr. Badal said that owing to uncontrollable inflation that has been witnessed in the regime of the UPA government it has became difficult for anybody to manage their household and at this time such statements of Congress leaders seems to be a joke with the common man.
The Chief Minister also said that it was unfortunate that earlier the Planning Commission had claimed that anyone with a daily consumption expenditure of Rs. 28.35 and Rs. 22.42 in urban and rural areas respectively was above the poverty line. Mr. Badal said that there was hardly any justification for this blunder according to which people earning more than minuscule figure of Rs 28 in rural areas were rich in the country.
Terming the Food Security Ordinance of the UPA government as a copied act of the state government, the Chief Minister said that the SAD-BJP government has been providing the food security to the poor people of the state through the Atta-Dal scheme from last many years.Replying to another query, the Chief Minister said that the process of e-tripping has been adopted to rationalize and streamline the tax system in the state by plugging the loopholes. He said that by this system no new tax has been imposed but the traders have been asked to simply give the details of their transaction above Rs 50, 000.
Earlier addressing a mammoth gathering of the Aggarwal community, the Chief Minister exhorted them to play a proactive role in the formation of the NDA government at the centre by ensuring the win of SAD-BJP alliance on all the 13 Lok Sabha seats of the state. Making a scathing attack on the Congress led UPA government, Mr. Badal said that at the time of independence the rate of Dollar was at par with Rupee but now due to the ill conceived policies of union government today the rate of rupee was much less than dollar. He further said that due to the wrong policies of the Union government the middle and poor class of the country has been ruined.
Listing the endeavors of the state government for promoting trade and commerce in Punjab, Mr. Badal said that realizing well that Power was engine of growth, the state government was coming up with new thermal power plants for generation power in the state. He said that all these three power plants with a capacity of 3920 MW would be commissioned within six months after which Punjab would emerge as a Power Surplus state. The Chief Minister further said that today Punjab was the most peaceful state in the country and the various reports of the Union government also indicates that the taxes in the state were very low in comparison to other states of the country.
Likewise the Chief Minister said that due to the stupendous efforts of the state government, Punjab was leading the nation in the fields of Health and Education. Mr. Badal also said that a massive development plan of the cities has been embarked by the state government under which all the cities and towns would get the basic civic amenities in the coming two years. On the occasion he also lauded the role played by Aggarwal community in the social, religious and economic field particularly in the Health and Education sector.
Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included Cabinet Minister Mr. Sharanjeet Singh Dhillon, Advisor to Chief Minister Mr. Mahesh Inder Singh Gewal, MLA Mr. SR Kaler, Chairman Punjab State Subordinate Services Selection Board Jathedar Santa Singh Umedpuri, President SGPC Jathedar Avtar Singh, National President of Akhil Bharti Aggarwal Sangathan Mr. Pardeep Mittal and President of Punjab state Mr. Amrit Lal Aggarwal.