Punjab govt deliberately delayed power connection to Bathinda AIIMS: Harsimrat

Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on Monday that the Punjab government has deliberately delayed power supply to the AIIMS project, built at a cost of Rs 926 crore, and even after it was provided the connection has been erratic.

She said instead of providing two parallel power lines to ensure uninterrupted electricity, single line supply has been given after much delay.

"Even this supply, which started last week after I red flagged the matter, was disrupted for more than 24 hours on Sunday. This erratic supply is coming in the way of testing sophisticated machinery which needs to be done before the out patient department can be made operational," she said.

Badal said the state's Congress government has delayed the AIIMS project at every step.

Stating that people of the state would take the Congress government to task, Badal said they were fed up with the government not providing the benefits of free medical insurance by not implementing the Centre's Ayushman Bharat programme.

She said various social welfare schemes were also being denied to the people.

"Students are not being given SC scholarships, girl students are not being given cycles. Even the old-age pension and Shagun schemes are not being implemented properly," Badal, also the Bathinda MP, said.

"Promises made to each and every section of the society have been dishonoured and now even the sick are being denied access to quality healthcare," she added.