Amarinder Singh trashes Akali's charge on Congress government’s performance

CHANDIGARH: Contradicting Akalis for questioning the achievements of his government, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday described the charges as a sign of ‘desperation and frustration’ in view of the pathetic performance of the previous SAD-BJP government.
Amarinder claimed that in contrast to the Akalis, and their allies (BJP), who failed to deliver on a single promise in the 10 years of their misrule, the Congress government had not only implemented the majority of the promises made in the party manifesto but had successfully pulled the state back from the brink of collapse to which it had been pushed by the previous regime.
Trashing SAD’s claims and charges as a 'bunch of lies and fabrications', clearly aimed at hiding their own failures, Amarinder said not only had his government executed the central schemes effectively but had also launched several path-breaking initiatives to pave the way for Punjab’s development, that had plummeted to shockingly abysmal levels under the previous government.
Citing ‘data’ to endorse his government’s claims, the Amarinder listed out various schemes and programmes launched in the past 30 months, as compared to a decade of non-performance by the SAD-BJP coalition government.
“What did the SAD do to save our future generations from this deadly menace?” he asked. Instead, they were only pushing the youth further into drugs as a result of the total economic breakdown in the state, leading to large-scale unemployment, he said, pointing out his government’s flagship programme ‘Ghar Ghar Rozgar’ had witnessed the creation of 9 lakh jobs/self-employment opportunities (at the rate of 1034 per day).
People have not forgotten how industries had fled the state under the previous government, he said, pointing to the steps taken by his government to attract investment and industries through Rs 5/unit (for 5 years) industrial tariff freeze, he said. “What did the Akalis do for the villages, where we have already spent Rs 796 crore under the Smart Village Campaign.”