The Congress today took a dig at Punjab government's decision to allow city mayors use red beacon on their vehicles, saying municipal corporations would benefit more if instead funds were ensured to them for development.
"More than the red beacons atop their vehicles the mayors need money for their municipal corporations and councils so that they can carry out some development work, which has remained standstill for last nine years," state Congress chief Amarinder Singh said in a statement here today.
The PPCC chief also regretted that the "helpless" mayors too seemed to be happy over the "lollypop" offered to them by Badal.
Acceding to the request of the mayors, the Chief Minister had yesterday allowed mayors to use red beacon atop their official vehicles and asked the Principal Secretary,Transport, to issue necessary instructions immediately in this regard.
Amarinder said the cities in the state were "crying for development" while municipal corporations and councils were "starving" for funds.
Except for the token announcement that Principal Secretary, Finance, has been asked to transfer Rs 422 crores to the local bodies "at the earliest" the state government seems to have neither any "intent" nor any money to offer to the local bodies for the development of the urban areas, the former chief minister alleged.
The Congress leader also charged Badal, who is into his tenth year of Chief Ministership now, with surviving on "tokenism and false assurances" without any intention to fulfil the commitments and announcements he makes.
"And at the fag-end of his tenure he tries to appease the mayors by allowing them red beacon atop their vehicles, which most of them were already using anyway," he said.
Amarinder said the urban areas have suffered as much as the rural areas for the lack of development during the last nine years.
The roads, lanes and by-lanes in the cities have not been repaired and re-carpeted for years, the water supply pipes are leaking and the sewers are choking, he said, adding that there has been no recruitment of safai-karamcharis for several years and most parts of the cities are the scene of filth and sleaze all over Punjab.
Amarinder questioned the very logic of setting up a second
university when the Guru Nanak Dev University was only the next door.
Amarinder today visited the Khalsa college here.
Learning about Capt Amarinder's proposed visit to the College, the Majithia controlled management of the college had got the main entrance gate to the college blocked, the statement claimed.
He had to take an alternative route to enter the college. The students there welcomed him and interacted with him for some time. They also clicked photographs and selfies with him, the statement said.
Amarinder said, "this is my first visit to the Khalsa College and certainly not the last one and if need be I will hold protest dharna and use all legal, democratic and constitutional means to save this great institution from Majithias' greed".
