Congress flays hike in fuel, sugar prices
Friday, 22/05/2015
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Chandigarh : All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson and former Sangrur MP Vijay Inder Singla on Thursday flayed the state government’s decision to hike the levy on fuel and sugar, leading to their price rise in the state. While terming it as a step adding to the woes of the common man in Punjab, Singla, in a statement issued here, said instead of curbing wasteful expenditure the state government was burdening the common man with this additional cess which would further add to their hardships. “While introduction of these two additional cess would generate Rs 1,500 crore annually to the state exchequer, it would overburden the common man excessively as it would lead to a steep hike in the price of essential commodities as both diesel and petrol prices have been hiked,” he stated.
Singla further said the electricity tariff was already higher in Punjab in comparison to the neighbouring states and this fresh hike would make things even worse for the common man. “Instead of providing quality and cheaper power, the state government is focusing only on levying additional taxes on the common man,” he added.
Bhattal cries foul over maize procurement
Chandigarh: Former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal on Thursday flayed the state government’s contention before the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the Central Government does not have any policy for procurement of maize under the minimum support price (MSP) scheme. In a statement issued, here, she asked that if the Centre was paying compensation to procurement of coarse grains - maize and bajra on MSP then why the state government was insisting that the Centre be first directed to come out with a scheme on maize procurement.
“This is merely a case of dragging the matter unnecessarily by the state government in regard to procurement of maize and bajra,” Bhattal said, while alleging that the government had “miserably failed” to protect the interests of farmers. Senior Congress leader also took dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for being busy in undertaking tour of various countries but having little concern for poor of this country. She urged Prime Minister Modi to pay a visit to Punjab.
