Patiala: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday alleged that Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann perpetrated a fraud in the name of the Invest Punjab summit by claiming an investment of Rs 1.55 lakh crore in the state in the last four years, when the actual investment was only Rs 2,600 crore.Addressing a rally here along with Samana halka in-charge Jagmeet Singh Haryau, Sukhbir Badal said that as per the latest RTI information accessed by the party, only Rs 2,600 crore was invested in Punjab during the last four years. “The only investment which has come into Punjab during AAP tenure is Rs 2,600, which has been done by Tata Steel in Ludhiana”, he added. He demanded an apology from the CM for lying blatantly. about Rs 1.55 lakh investment during AAP tenure, Sukhbir Badal said the SAD consistently asserted that investors were scared to invest in Punjab due to the culture of extortions and gangster raj. “We are committed to resorting rule of law and giving concessions to the industry to kickstart investment in the state in 2027”, he added. On protests against the spate of sacrileges and strict laws to deal with them, as was happening in Samana, Badal said, “We will strive to enact a law calling for death sentence in such cases”. He said that earlier, during the SAD govt in 2016, the Vidhan Sabha enacted a law calling for awarding life sentences for sacrilege committed against the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, but it was not passed by the Centre. He also said sacrilege incidents started in Punjab only after AAP entered the state in 2014, and that AAP legislator Naresh Yadav was convicted in a sacrilege case.Badal condemned the state govt’s decision to conduct the so-called Drug Census by using teachers. He said it put an extra burden on govt teachers and would compromise the studies of children. “Moreover, it is not the job of teachers to do such surveys”, he said, demanding that teachers be immediately disassociated from the survey.Badal said parties of Delhi always discriminated against Punjab, alleging that Punjab was denied its own state capital upon reorganisation of the state and Punjabi speaking areas were kept out of the new state. “Half of our River waters were also given to Rajasthan by the Congress party against the Riparian Principle. The parties of Delhi only come to rule and loot, while the SAD has served you through thick and thin”, he added.Speaking about former minister Surjit Singh Rakhra, Badal said the leader took credit for development projects conceived and approved by former CM Parkash Singh Badal. He alleged that Rakhra made false claims of financing the SAD, besides spending crores on flood relief when he had done nothing.Laying out his vision for Punjab, Badal announced that the next SAD govt would give free education to all students till the graduation level. He said the SAD was committed to establishing a Skill University, offering a Rs 10 lakh interest free loan to youth, expanding the Aata Daal scheme, giving an old age pension of Rs 3,100, Shagun benefit of Rs 1 lakh and 75 per cent subsidy for livestock based farming. MSID:: 129682050 413 |
