Chandigarh, November 13
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab has blamed the Badal family for the devastation of industries in the state, because when the Vajpayee government at the Centre discriminated against Punjab and gave special concessional packages to the neighboring hill states, the then Union Minister of State for Industries was Sukhbir Singh Badal himself. According to the AAP, Punjab can never forgive the Badal family for the betrayal earned by Sukhbir Badal for a ministerial seat.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Saturday, senior party leader and MLA Aman Arora said that the Badals, Congressmen and the BJP men had ruined the industrial world of Punjab for personal gain. He termed the statement made by Sukhbir Singh Badal in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Friday as the pinnacle of deception; stating that it would have been better if Sukhbir Badal, instead of shedding crocodile tears over the exodus of investors; apologized to the people of Punjab for the planned attack on Punjab’s established industry through a special package to the hill states by the Vajpayee government; because Sukhbir Badal as Union Minister of State for Industries is an equal partner in that anti-Punjab decision as Harsimrat Kaur Badal as Union Minister for Food Processing on the Modi government’s ordinance for the three black farm laws; who instead of opposing the ordinances, signed on as a cabinet minister because the priority at that time was to save the ministerial seat; which was later given up under public pressure.
Arora further said that no doubt the previous and present Congress government had never felt the need to rectify the discrimination against the Punjab industry by the Centre, when for many years; there were Congress government in Punjab led by Capt Amarinder Singh and at the Centre under Dr Manmohan Singh. He said that Punjab’s industry was first ravaged by terrorism, then by the special packages given to the hill states by the governments of Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh at the Centre. Arora said that as per RTI reports in 2016, 19,000 industrial units had migrated out of Punjab in the last 10 years (2006-2016), when Punjab was under the Badal government. Similarly, as per the latest reports of PSPCL for 2021, the number of 1 lakh 2,063 power connections of industries in Punjab which were in operation in 2016-17, has come down to 91,546 in 2018-19 i.e. 10.50 lakh more industries have been shut down.
The AAP leader said that in the last 15 years, about 30,000 industries (small/medium/large) have either closed down or relocated to other states; for which the Badal and the Congress government are more responsible than each other. Arora said that for the last 6-7 years, about Rs 400 crore of VAT refund of industries is due, which includes the current balance of the Badal government. He also criticized the Congress government for issuing 1.5 lakh notices to the industries for GST VAT in the last two years. Aman Arora said that due to anti-industry, anti-business and anti-trade policies of the Congress and the SAD-BJP governments; the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on the lines of Delhi government has promised the Punjab industry to end inspector raj and corruption with a fear-free environment.
