Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Hours before he formally submitted his resignation on Saturday to the Punjab Governor, Captain Amarinder Singh had written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, apprising her of his decision, while expressing anguish at the political events of the last about five months, which he said were clearly “not based on full understanding of the national imperatives of Punjab and its key concerns.”
Amarinder had written in his letter to Sonia, indicating his apprehension of instability in Punjab as a result of the political developments in the state unit of the Congress, “Notwithstanding my personal anguish, I hope this will not cause any damage to the hard-earned peace and development in the state, and that the efforts I have been focusing during the last few years, would continue unabated, ensuring justice to one and all.”
Amarinder expressed his personal satisfaction at having done his best for the people as chief minister of Punjab, which, as a border state, “has many geo-political and other internal security concerns, which I tried to handle effectively without any compromise.” He said he was happy that the state remained fully peaceful, and there was complete communal harmony with no ill-will towards anyone.
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While Sonia Gandhi herself may be personally aware of some of the things achieved in the last four and a half years, “the people of Punjab are looking up to the Congress for its mature and effective public policies, which not only reflect upon good politics, but also address the concerns of the common man that are specific to this border State,” he wrote while informing the Congress President about his decision to demit the office of the Chief Minister, Punjab, after completing nine-and-half years as such from 2002 to 2007 and 2017 to September 2021.
Referring to the numerous challenges faced by him over the last four-and-half years in fulfilling the promises made by the Punjab Congress in the Punjab Elections 2017, he pointed out that these notwithstanding, of the total promises made, his Government had fulfilled 89.2 per cent, while work was in progress on the remaining commitments.
On the issue of the sacrilege cases and the subsequent police action of 2015, Amarinder said his government, which was committed to ensuring justice in the matter, had established a Judicial Commission of Enquiry headed by Justice (Retd) Ranjit Singh, whose report was received on August 16, 2018. The report was accepted and full legal action was taken thereon, he said, sharing details of the same.
He pointed out that despite legal hurdles and refusal of CBI to return the cases, which were transferred to them by the SAD-BJP Government, his government had succeeded in filing ten challans, while twenty four persons had been charge-sheeted, fifteen Police Personnel suspended, and ten civilians arrested.
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“The criminal proceedings in these cases are currently underway and I am sure that in due course justice will be done in due course,” he said.
With regard to the controversial Power Purchase Agreements that were signed by the previous government for the purchase of expensive power to ensure affordable supply to the people of the state, Amarinder said his government had invested Rs 3709 crore in electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure from 2017-21 and released about Rs 11,000 crore per annum to the benefit of 22 lakh SC/BC consumers, and 14 lakh farmers. “For the first time, we supplied subsidised power to the industry at annual cost of over Rs 2000 crore,” he said, adding that “Further, the review of the PPAs is currently under way.”
Talking about the farmers, whom he described as the backbone of Punjab’s economy, Amarinder wrote that in line with its commitment to provide debt relief and repeal statutory provisions of attaching their properties, his government had given debt relief of Rs 4,624 crore to 5.64 lakh farmers and Rs 526 crore to 2.68 lakh farm workers.
Referring to his personal promise to the people of Punjab to break the back of drug peddlers and smugglers in the State, he said he had done so relentlessly by establishing a Special Task Force (STF) in this regard.
Pointing to his Government’s 3-pronged strategy titled EDP – Enforcement, De-addiction and Prevention, he said as a result, 62,744 persons had been arrested, 202 OOAT clinics established, 6,28,083 Drug Abuse Prevention Officers (DAPOs) registered and 9,51,202 Buddy Groups formed.