SAD-BJP govt has failed to provide relief to all sections of society: Jakhar
Leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly Sunil Kumar Jakhar said here on Sunday that the SAD-BJP government has failed to provide any relief to all sections of society including farmers, traders, labourers and the common man.
Leader of opposition in the Punjab assembly Sunil Kumar Jakhar said here on Sunday that the SAD-BJP government has failed to provide any relief to all sections of society including farmers, traders, labourers and the common man.
He said prices of most of the crops have come down by 25% and in many parts of the state, farmers are also suffering in the absence of canal water as the government had started untimely cleaning of some canals due to the scarcity of funds
Jakhar was speaking at a protest rally of Congress and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) workers over the alleged failure of the government on all fronts here on Sunday.
"The government has failed to keep its promises made during the elections such as providing unemployment allowance. Not a single unemployed youth has been paid any allowance. Rather, the government has also failed to release over Rs 5 crore of the for NREGS workers," he said.
Jakhar said that the Congress-led UPA government had released Rs 150 crore in March for the workers under NREGS, but the state has allegedly used (misused) these funds for other purposes.
Lashing out at the SAD, Jakhar said, "Before the parliamentary elections, the Badals had assured the people that if the BJP came to power, truckloads of financial help would be brought to Punjab to make it prosperous, but instead of getting more financial assistance, the NDA government released the second installment of the cash credit limit for paddy procurement after much delay. The BJP-led government asked the Punjab government to first settle the previous accounts," he said.
"The Union government has also cancelled many sewerage projects worth Rs 1,400 crore in Punjab, the foundation stones of which were laid by the deputy chief minister. By laying foundation stones, the deputy chief minister has only put a huge burden on the public exchequer," said Jakhar.
Groupism at work?
The protest rally, which was addressed by Sunil Kumar Jakhar on Sunda, was organised by former Faridkot MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon and Jaitu MLA Joginder Singh a day ahead of state Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa's expected visit to Faridkot on Monday.
Surprisingly, Opinder Sharma, who had quit the Congress and contested the last assembly elections from Kotkapura against Ripjeet Singh Brar, official Congress candidate, also attended the rally. Sharma has also been a former MLA from Kotkapura.
Bajwa is coming to Faridkot to address a meeting of the Congress workers from Faridkot constituency to be organised by Dhanjeet Singh Virk, newly-appointed halqa in-charge from Faridkot assembly segment.
While the Dhanjeet-led group alleged that the Sunday rally was aimed at reducing the number of workers at the gathering during Bajwa's visit, but Kushaldeep Singh, former Faridkot MLA and state general secretary of the Congress, denying this, ruled out any groupism within the district unit.
"There is nothing like this, not at all. The rally was planned much earlier and the district Congress stands united," he said. He said that Opinder Sharma had joined the Congress before parliamentary elections in Delhi.