Cong to raise din on floor of house on mining policy: Jakhar

Thursday, 06/12/2012

http://punjabnewsline.com/news/Cong-to-raise-din-on-floor-of-house-on-mining-policy_-Jakhar.html

PATHANKOT: The Opposition Congress has decided to corner the SAD-BJP government on its mining policy on the floor of the House in the upcoming Assembly session, said CLP leader Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday.

Addressing a Congress rally here while the government was protecting a cartel engaged in mining which has led to skyrocketing of prices of sand and gravel making it beyond the reach of common man thus hitting the construction of housing in the state.

“We want the government to clear its stand on mining before December 15 before the assembly session begins. In case the government failed to do so, we will start proceedings in the House”, said Sunil Jakhar.

Jakhar said while the government had given assurance to the opposition Congress during the last session that it will make comprehensive policy on mining so that common man could buy sand and gravel of affordable prices but on the contrary sand is selling at costlier process. Similar is the case of bricks. The cartel owning brick kilns in Punjab has jacked up prices of bricks and the government was unable to regulate the prices, he added.

“Similarly, the coalition partner BJP has been maintaining silence on the issue,” he added.

Alleging that the government was implicating Congress workers in false cases and law and order was deteriorating, Jakhar said it was astonishing to know that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal did not visit Faridkot to console the parents of Shruti Sachdeva when the whole town remained on agitation till Shruti was not traced.

He said, the recent announcement of the government to slap property tax was unjustified and it will further increase the burden of people and the Congress will continue to make people aware about its anti-people policies.

He said, Chief Minister had promised lakhs of jobs to unemployed and assured to give laptops to students but no action has been taken so far. He said huge central funds sent under various schemes were being misutilized.

As many as 20 Congress MLAs also attended the rally which included Gurdaspur DCC president Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Kaur Bajwa, Jagmohan Singh Kang, Kuljit Singh former minister, Raman Bhalla and several local leaders.

The state level rally which was first of its kind launched by Jakhar to mobilize workers was attended in large numbers. The organizers of the rally chose Gandhi Chowk as venue causing traffic chaos.