Why was CM blind to Patiala problems?: Capt Amarinder

Tuesday, 05/08/2014

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=112339&boxid=57831&uid=&dat=2014-08-05

Patiala : Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday asked as to why was the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal blind towards the problems of Patiala, while he devoted and diverted all his energies and resources towards Lambi. “It is not just Patiala they discriminated against but whole of Punjab except Lambi and Bathinda, but for Patiala they had special aversion for the obvious reasons,”he remarked.

Reacting sharply to the Akali Dal statement that Preneet Kaur, the then Patiala MP should have brought the issue of discrimination to the notice of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh retorted, “was he (the CM) blind to the problems, he should have known it himself as he was the CM of entire Punjab and not Lambi alone.” He added rather this all was happening under his (CM’s) directions only.

Corroborating the charges levelled by Kaur that the Akalis discriminated against Patiala, the former Chief Minister said ever since the Akalis came to power they started the process of sustained discrimination with Patiala resulting in the city not getting a single penny for development.

“I dare the chief minister and the Akalis to name a single development work they have done in Patiala,” he asserted, while adding, ‘rather they discontinued and abandoned all the projects which I had started for the city as chief minister.’ Meanwhile, the Congress candidate from Patiala Urban Preneet Kaur on Monday said that the Akali government sold the precious land in Patiala and the money instead of being spent on the city’s development was diverted to Bathinda and Lambi.

Addressing a series of meetings during her campaign here, Preneet Kaur disclosed that the fund starved Akali government which is on the verge of bankruptcy, sold vast area of land in Patiala under ‘optimum utilisation of vacant government land’ (OUVGL) for hundreds of crores of rupees.

The former minister pointed out, the fund starved greedy Akalis sold scores of acres of land in Patiala which belonged to irrigation, public works and agriculture departments and also Rajindra Hospital and PRTC workshop. “First of all the land should not have been sold as it belonged to people of Patiala but even if it was sold the money should have been spent in Patiala only and not diverted to Bathinda and Lambi,” she observed, while asking the people to hold the Akalis to account and make them realise that they (the Akalis) had not been fair to the people of Patiala.

She wondered as with what face the Akalis were asking for vote and support from the people of Patiala. “They have not only given nothing to you but robbed you of your precious land resources and now they are trying to show you false dreams,” she cautioned people were urging them to vote for her on August 21.