Bhattal flays Badal govt on professional tax
Thursday, 27/11/2014
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SANGRUR: Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has condemned the SAD-BJP government in Punjab for its reported proposal to impose professional tax on self-employed and salaried professionals for generating additional revenue.
In a statement issued here, on Wednesday, Bhattal said that the financial health of the state has worsened on account of misgovernance and malfunctioning of the present regime in the state. Bhattal also accused the SADBJP government of indulging in reckless spending by the Badal government, which led to draining of financial resources.
She pointed out that the Badal government, instead of resorting to measures like the proposed imposition of professional tax on self-employed and salaried professionals, needed to pull up its socks and cut down its huge non-plan expenditure.
Bhattal said that the government was planning to charge money from people, but it has failed to check corruption prevailing at various levels of the government, which has brought development to a grinding halt. She said that the state government seems to be indifferent and unresponsive to the problems faced by the people of the state.
“The Badal family was concentrating on pushing its own vested interests rather than caring for the common man of Punjab,” she said, adding, “Youth of the state are frustrated as they were not getting opportunities of work and enough employment avenues in the state, which was pushing them into various evils like taking drugs.” She said that the energy of the youth needed to be channelised in a positive direction for the prosperity and economic well-being of the state.
