Chandigarh: Punjab’s leader of the Opposition (LoP), Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday flayed the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab government’s move to auction the property of the fund-starved Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board.
Senior Congress Leader, Bajwa while citing a news report said that at least 175 properties owned by the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board, also known as the Punjab Mandi Board would be auctioned to ease out financial stress that the board had been suffering due to non-release of rural development fund (RDF) by the Centre government for past three foodgrain procurement seasons.
“It is quite shocking to learn that the AAP government has all set to auction the valuable properties belonging to the Punjab Mandi Board to raise Rs 100 crore that would help to manage the routine activities of the board. The Punjab government has apparently failed to negotiate the RDF issue with the centre government”, Bajwa added.
The opposition leader said that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should have put his ego aside and attended the recent governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog. He could have used the platform to raise the state’s issues of utmost urgency including RDF.
“Punjab CM must acknowledge that auctioning priceless government property is not the permanent solution to alleviate the financial crisis. The AAP government must bail the Punjab Mandi Board out from other sources instead of reaching such a reckless decision. With such actions, the government would soon run out of prime properties. The AAP has no right to sell anything that it has not bought”, Bajwa added.
In a statement, Bajwa said that CM must explain why his government has failed to revive Punjab’s economy from various sources as it had promised before the assembly elections in 2022. They failed to raise Rs 20,000 crore in revenue from sand mining and Rs 34,000 crore by ending corruption as promised by the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.