Chandigarh(Wishav Warta): Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said here today that development and welfare measures in Punjab had come to a complete standstill since the formation of the Congress government in the state. Badal said that he has been particularly stunned and deeply anguished to learn that the Congress government in Punjab had virtually shelved the Shagun Scheme, the old age and disability pensions as well as pensions for the widows as not a single penny has been paid to the intended beneficiaries since the formation of the Congress govt in the state.
“In nearly nine months of utter non-performances of this government, people of the state have received nothing except slogans, speeches , accusations and excuses. This govt has brought rural development to a screeching halt, withdrawing even the funds sanctioned for the purpose. Nor have they started any other development project in the state. They are not honouring even routine commitments of any government to its citizens including their own employees. And they are backing out of honouring even the existing commitments to the farmers, the Dalit and other poor, needy and deserving sections of society, including old age and disability and widow pensioners, backing out on even scholarships to SC students .On top of it, they have lost grip on the law and order situation, which is the most worrying aspect of their non-performance so far,” said the former Chief Minister.
Referring to the government not honouring even its routine commitments to different sections of society, Badal said, “The Congress has stabbed 20 lakh pensioners in Punjab in the back as all old age and disability pensions as well as pension for widows have been stopped. They have not paid even a single penny to pensioners since the formation of the new govt nearly nine months ago. It is a great betrayal as the Congress had promised to raise the pension amount from Rs 500 during the SAD BJP tenure to Rs 1500, a three fold jump. Instead, they first went back on this commitment, sanctioning a pension only of Rs 750 instead of the promised Rs 1500 per month. But now, they are not paying even that. This is utter insensitivity to the problems of the needy,” said the former Chief Minister in a statement here this afternoon.
Badal said that the government is sitting on Rs 1000 crore that actually belongs to the hapless pensioners. Likewise, said Badal, no Shaguns have been paid under the Shagun Scheme since the formation of the new government. The irony is that as in the case of pensions, even on Shagun Scheme, the Congress party had promised to raise the amount to Rs51000 from Rs 15000 being paid by the SAD-BJP govt. Here also, the govt is sitting on a sum of Rs 100 crore which should actually have been paid to the eligible families. Thus, Dalits and other deserving and eligible poor families too have been betrayed by the Congress.
Badal further said that even students belonging to the SC have become the victims of the Congress governments lack of will in honouring commitments to the poor, the needy and the deserving. The SC students are not being paid their scholarship despite the fact that the government has received Rs 115 crore from the centre for this purpose. But the state government is cooking up excuses like audit to with-hold payment of scholarships. He said that the so far , the government has completed the audit of only 200 out of the 4000 institutions where students have to be paid scholarships. This gives the impression that the govt is deliberately going slow on the process in order to sit on the funds meant for SC students.” The former Chief Minister asked the state govt to immediately release funds for pensioners in all categories, and resume the Shagun scheme, he also urged them to pass the to SC students Rs 115 crore received from the center for them as scholarship.