Sukhbir Badal slams Punjab transport minister over cancelling bus permits

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday hit out at Punjab Transport Minister Amarinder Singh Raja Warring for cancelling bus permits, saying his transport company does not owe a single rupee to the state government.

His statement came a day after the state transport department cancelled a total of 125 bus permits, including 31 owned by Badal and his family members.

Warring had said the action was necessitated on account of non-payment of due taxes.

Addressing the media here, SAD chief Badal said the bus permits of his transport company had been cancelled even without issuing any notice to it.

"We do not owe even 1 rupee in taxes to the Punjab government. In direct contrast, companies of the Congress leaders are defaulters but are not being proceeded against. The state is also owed Rs 280 crore in taxes from buses of the state transport undertaking. Only we have been penalised," said Badal.

Replying to a question whether his wife and former Union minister will contest the 2022 Punjab assembly polls, Badal said, "Harsimrat Kaur Badal is not going to fight the assembly polls."

Asked whether Parkash Singh Badal will fight the polls, Sukhbir Badal said, "We will take the decision at an appropriate time."

Badal also launched a frontal attack on Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, accusing him of being the "biggest illegal coloniser" in the state and was allegedly responsible for the mushrooming of illegal colonies" in the Kharar-Ropar belt.

Badal further alleged that the Chief Minister was known to "patronise illegal colonies as well as the sand mafia."

"This is the reason why Charanjit Channi has played a farce on the people in the name of reducing sand prices. People are not getting sand at Rs 5 per cubic feet as announced by the chief minister anywhere but the state exchequer has lost Rs 50 crore advertising this falsehood," he alleged.

Replying to a query on a special task force (STF) report on drugs, Badal said No one is stopping the Punjab government from nabbing the drug lords.

He said it was strange that instead of arresting the "drug lords", the Congress government was "politicising" the issue in the same manner as it had done in the 2015 sacrilege case.

Badal also dared the government to present a single shred of evidence against him in the sacrilege case, alleging the government was working overtime to frame him in the case.

On the occasion, Congress leader Anish Sidana joined the Akali Dal in the presence of Badal. Sidana was Congress party's intellectual cell president.