Badals face Cong flak over Rs 7-crore bullet-proof cars
Saturday, 06/07/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130706/punjab.htm#9
Chandigarh : The Congress today slammed the SAD-BJP government for purchasing two bullet-proof BMW cars at the cost of Rs 7 crore for the personal use of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.
In a statement issued here, party MLAs Randeep Singh, Navtej Singh Cheema, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, Ramanjit Singh Sikki and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria said earlier the Chief Minister had given nod for the purchase of aircrafts worth Rs 75 crore for use by his son Sukhbir Badal.
They said the Badals were using luxury vehicles at the cost of the public exchequer. They said Punjab needed to take adopt austerity measures to cope with the economic crisis looming large over the state.
The Congress MLAs said the SAD-BJP government was not able to pay salaries to its employees and had been receiving overdrafts to meet the day-to-day expenses. The government has taken Rs 700 crore loan to pay the salaries of staff. They said the Punjab government failed to pay eight per cent dearness allowance (DA) installment to its employees due for the past six months. The next DA hike will be due in the month of July.
The legislators said the Badal family already had a fleet of over 30 government vehicles at their disposal that included luxury cars and bullet-proof SUVs. When the Badals had enough resources to purchase luxury vehicles for their personal use, why they were burdening the government exchequer, the legislators questioned.
