Chandigarh, May 28
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema said that as the 2022 Assembly Elections are nearing, the Punjab government had made a slight reduction in power tariffs. Cheema said that the reduction done by the state government had been made just to befool the people of the state. He demanded that Captain Amarinder Singh as per his promise made to the people of the state should immediately issue a white paper on power agreements made during the Badal government, so that the people of Punjab could know the reality of the costly power supply they were getting.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Friday, Harpal Singh Cheema said that the reduction in power tariff from 50 paise to one rupee per unit was negligible. “By doing such negligible reduction, the government has only cheated the innocent people of Punjab ahead of the assembly elections,” he added. Cheema said that the power consumers of Punjab were paying the highest price in the country while the power generation in Punjab was increasing at a higher pace. He alleged that when power could have been generated from the water resources of the state, then why previous Badal government had set up coal projects in Punjab in collaboration with private companies just for the economic exploitation of the people.
The LoP further said that before the 2017 elections, Captain Amarinder Singh had promised the people of Punjab that the power projects undertaken by the Badal government would be reviewed and a white paper on these agreements would be issued. “Surprisingly, almost four and a half years have passed since Captain Amarinder Singh became the Chief Minister, but till now, he has failed to issue any white paper on the power deals made by the then Badal government,” he asserted.
Cheema said that by not cancelling the wrong power deals made by the Badals, the alliance between Captain Amarinder Singh with the Badal family had been exposed. He said that till the time the wrong power agreements made with the Punjab government would continue, the state would remain overburdened. The AAP leader advised Captain Amarinder Singh to seek guidance from the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s government to provide affordable electricity to all sections of the people in Punjab instead of dividing them.
