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India Akali-BJP Govt’s Honeymoon Over Sooner Than Expected

Jan 6, 2005
3,450
3,762
Metro-Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Akali-BJP govt’s honeymoon over sooner than expected

Friday, July 27, 2012 - 14:15
By Vimal Sumbly


CHANDIGARH: One hundred thirty days, the time period for which the Akali-BJP government has been in office in its second innings, is not a long period for a government to be judged. But it is more than enough to set the trend for the public opinion as how it rates the government. And the public opinion, and rightly so, has already got against the government and people are disillusioned and alienated.

And this is the reason why Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is reluctant to don the mantle of the Chief Minister as his father and seasoned politician Parkash Singh Badal is still proving to be the shock absorber. Moreover, the senior Badal has nothing at stake at this stage of his political career as he has to retire in any case.

The government has not been able to deliver even on one of the promises it made in the manifesto. What people have got instead is punitive taxes, long power cuts, weekly offs due to power cuts for industry, encouragement to extremism, like setting up of the Operation Bluestar Memorial, to name a few.

That the Akalis promised moon to the people of Punjab before polls in their election manifesto is public knowledge, but for the sake of reminder certain things need to be mentioned here once again.

The Akalis had promised round-the-clock power in Punjab and surplus power within two years. This is the promise Sukhbir Badal had made five years ago before assuming power in 2007. More than five years have passed and state’s power deficit is increasing, what to speak of surplus generation. Punjab is still reeling under long duration power cuts.

For the domestic sector in urban areas, for every hour of power supply there is another hour of power cut and in rural areas for every hour of power supplied there is at least two hours of power cut.

Industrial weekly offs range between two and three days and the industry has to operate generators. And the Deputy Chief Minister is dreaming of one lakh crore worth investment! The captive generation of power comes at a heavy cost but the industry has no option as it will have to shut down otherwise.

The agriculture sector, much maligned for the perceived preferential treatment supposed to be given by the Akalis to it, remains equally hit. The farmers are supposed to get “free electricity” for their agriculture needs. They need at least eight hour supply every day during the paddy transplantation season. But it does not come even for two hours.

With the result they have to operate generators and their costs are going up. The agriculture economists maintain, after calculating the costs and drawing comparisons, that in case the farmers are provided electricity for eight hours and even charged for that, their costs will be less than they spend on diesel for operating motors for irrigation.

Coming to the financial resources, the state is almost bankrupt so much so the government is planning and preparing to impose taxes worth Rs 10,000 crore. Former Chief Minister and President Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Capt Amarinder Singh has been maintaining that the state plans to tax each and every individual since it has no money. And his fears seem to be coming true with government mooting to impose a tax on professionals whose monthly salary is Rs 8,500 or more!

That the Akali-BJP alliance returned to power by default and came as a big surprise to everybody, including the Akalis themselves, is a well known fact. However, people had hoped against hope that some of the promises it had made would be fulfilled at least, even if they were made without any intent. Fulfilling the promises is a far cry, the government does not even seem to be inclined to even take an initiative towards the same. May be it can afford since it has a long way to go to the elections.

Source: http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/akali-bjp-govt’s-honeymoon-over-sooner-expected/53250
 

itsmaneet

SPNer
Jun 13, 2012
216
159
38
Nagpur, India
No matter what but - 'Donkeys' can't do the work of 'Horses' & its easy to understand whom am referring donkeys to.

Also, another unfortunate thing is i don't see any capable leader in Punjab who can take Punjab to new heights just like what Modi did in Gujarat (infrastructural/industrial) development.

Don't know where's Punjab going ....
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

Sawa lakh se EK larraoan
Mentor
Writer
SPNer
Jul 4, 2004
7,706
14,381
75
KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA
Donkeys cant do the work of horses..right..but the people of Punjab are the REAL DONKEYS who VOTED these GADHA Badal Clan into POWER....so a Donkey deserves a Donkey ha ha...Laptops and Bicycles..uninterrupted power, paris california usa canad in Punjab..fake adverts..sabj baaghs..even David Copperfield loses to Illusionist badal...Good for Punjabis..the more they get whacked for next five years..maybe a little akal will return..but i seriously DOUBT IT..look at Dasooha by election..same result...next LOK SABHA elections..i expect the same..13 seats to badal..a dead snake is not that easy to dislodge...badal is a dead snake.
 

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