Punjab govt spending Rs 750 crore annually on advertisements: SAD

Chandigarh, July 25 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia on Tuesday urged the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to take suo-moto action against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for spending Rs 750 crore annually on advertisements even as it refused to spend money on infrastructure projects or even provide relief to the victims of floods.

The SAD leader told the media that the Supreme Court had already noted that if Rs 1,100 crore could be spent on advertisements in Delhi, surely the government could make contributions for infrastructure projects.

“The apex court has in a historic decision also recorded that it was constrained to direct the Delhi government to file an affidavit regarding funds used for advertisements because the latter had expressed its inability to contribute its share in infrastructure projects.”

Asserting that the order had set a benchmark, Majithia said “the AAP government in Punjab is following the model established by its high command in Delhi. Like in the case of Delhi, the Punjab government has earmarked huge sums for advertisements at the cost of infrastructure projects and development of the state.”

He said the situation has become such that a measly sum of Rs 33 crore has been forwarded to deputy commissioners as relief for flood victims when several hundreds of crores are needed for this task.

Majithia also appealed to the Chief Justice to act against the wasteful expenditure being incurred by the state government, particularly in hiring aircraft to ferry AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal from one place to another across the country.

He said even as the state was suffering, the Punjab government was squandering money in failed projects like AAP clinics which had virtually dismantled the health sector.

“The state has also suffered because the AAP government has failed to establish a single infrastructure during its last one and a half year tenure.”

The SAD leader said the state was falling on all parameters with law and order being most affected.