780-463-8800
[email protected]
Chandigarh, July 5 – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had today officially announced that he would not honour any of the promises made by his party in its election manifesto be it a complete farm loan waiver, increase in social welfare benefits to allowances to unemployed youth.
“The writing is on the wall. The chief minister has today made it clear that small and marginal farmers will not get any loan waiver. He has also announced that the dalits and poor, who were waiting for an increase in social welfare schemes, should wait for five years. The youth have been told not to even dream about the unemployment allowance promised to them and be ready to become taxi drivers only”, said former minister & party spokesman Dr Daljit Singh Cheema in a press release here.
The Akali leader said the sham in the name of a press conference was held to befool and mislead Punjabis about achievements which were still in the realm of dreams only. “This has always been a recurrent Congress strategy. Today also Capt Amarinder has chosen to backstab Punjabis. It would have been better if the State PR department had titled today’s event as “100 days 100 unfulfilled promises”, he added.
Speaking about the fraudulent loan waiver announced by the CM, Dr Cheema said Amarinder had after months of jugglery with words made it clear today that only crop loans would be waived off. He said only rich farmers took crop loans which were given for a six month period and had a recovery rating of around 90 to 95 per cent. He said in direct contrast those who were committing suicide had taken term loans for a period of more than one year. “ Where will they go now? With all hopes lost, isn’t the Congress government forcing them on the path to suicide?” Dr Cheema asked.
Dr Cheema said Amarinder had also played a cruel joke on dalits and youth. He said dalits were expecting a radical increase in all social welfare schemes be it the shagun scheme or old age pension scheme. The youth were expecting the government to honour its promise to give them an unemployment allowance of Rs 2,500 per month. “All this is in the air now with Amarinder now saying these promises will be implemented over a period of five years”.
Dr Cheema said it was also unfortunate that the CM was spreading white lies by claiming 29,600 industrial units had shut down in the State during the last ten years. “Why doesn’t the CM hold a press conference and substantiate this claim by disclosing the names of these units district wise”, he asked. He said the fact of the matter was that 10,000 new units had come up in the State during the last ten years.
Speaking about the various so called initiatives announced by the government, the Akali leader said most would remain on paper only. He said the government planned to provide free education to girls till Phd level and also introduce computer education at the primary level. “However only a few crore has been kept in the budget to cover computer education in 12,000 schools besides tuition fee of girls at various levels”. He said similarly no money had been allocated for providing power to industry @ Rs five per unit as promised.
Dr Cheema said the less said about law and order situation the better. “The CM has announced that some gangs have been liquidated. But what about the spate of robberies, dacoities and murders? Why is the government failing to maintain law and order? Why are dalits being attacked and feeling unsafe in the State?
Asking the Congress government to act and deliver instead of staging phony PR shows to mislead Punjabis and reiterate promises, Dr Cheema said Punjabis were fed up with this drama. “People want a government which delivers. Not one which keeps shifting the goal post as the chief minister has done today. The SAD will not let the government escape its responsibility and will hold it accountable before the people”, he added.
