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Punjab: Hours before resigning as CM, Amarinder expressed anguish in letter to Sonia
Before he tendered his resignation to the Punjab governor, Amarinder Singh wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, expressing anguish at the political events of the past five months
Hours before he formally resigned as the Punjab chief minister on Saturday, Captain Amarinder Singh wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, expressing “anguish” at the political events of the past five months, which he said were “not based on understanding of the national imperatives of Punjab and its concerns”.
“Notwithstanding my personal anguish, I hope this will not cause any damage to the hard-earned peace and development in the state, and that the efforts I have been focusing during the last few years would continue unabated, ensuring justice to one and all,” Amarinder said in the letter, while informing Sonia about his decision to relinquish office.
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At the same time, he expressed satisfaction at having done his best for the border state that has many geo-political and internal security concerns. “The people of Punjab are looking up to the Indian National Congress for its mature and effective public policies,” he said, while listing his government’s achievements in the past four-and-a-half years.
Amarinder said he had worked wholeheartedly for the welfare of the people of Punjab, the state he loves from the core of his heart. “This was satisfying for me because I won eight out of 13 seats in the Parliament elections of 2019 (besides winning) panchayat and urban local bodies elections decisively,” he said.
‘Fulfilled 89% promises’
The two-time chief minister claimed that his government had fulfilled 89% of the promises while work was in progress on the remaining commitments.
“The state is today nearly free from the pandemic, and efforts are continuing to improve health infrastructure and provide care to the deserving people free of cost to prevent the anticipated third wave,” he said, adding that Punjab was fully geared to meet the future challenges.
On the sacrilege cases and subsequent police action of 2015, Amarinder said his government had established a judicial commission of inquiry, whose report was received on August 16, 2018. The report was accepted and full legal action was taken thereon, he said.
With regard to the controversial power purchase agreements (PPAs) that were signed during the Akali regime, Amarinder said his government had invested ₹3,709 crore in electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure and released about ₹11,000 crore per annum for the benefit of 22 lakh scheduled caste and backward class consumers and 14 lakh farmers. “For the first time, we supplied subsidised power to the industry at an annual cost of over ₹2,000 crore,” he said, adding that the review of PPAs was underway.
Talking about agricultural sector, Amarinder wrote that his government had provided debt relief of ₹4,624 crore to 5.64 lakh farmers and ₹526 crore to 2.68 lakh farm workers.
Referring to his promise to break the back of drug peddlers and smugglers in the state, he said he had done so relentlessly by establishing a special task force that led to 62,744 arrests. He noted that with the revamp of the mining policy in 2017, the state’s yearly revenue had increased from ₹35 crore to ₹300 crore.
Amarinder also drew Sonia’s attention to the fact that Punjab had been ranked at top in school education by the ministry of human resource development. He said of 19,000 schools in the state, 14,000 had been developed as smart schools, while the work is underway in the remaining 5,000 schools. “We have also started eight new universities in private and public sector, and established 19 new government colleges and 25 new ITIs,” he wrote.
