Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday urged Punjab Chief Minister   Bhagwant Mann not to use the Union government’s directive  for installation of prepaid electricity meters as an excuse to back out from the AamAadmi Party’s  pre poll commitment to supply 600 units of power free of cost to all domestic and other consumers per billing cycle.

“Everybody knows that the amount payable on account of free power subsidy has to be borne by the state government by passing it on powercom. The power regulator has already ordered that this amount be calculated and pre-paid from the state exchequer. It makes no difference to the state’s liability whether the power facility is prepaid or postpaid by the consumers”, principal advisor to the SAD president S Sukhbir Singh Badal, Harcharan Bains, said.

To check power thefts and inflated bills, the Union Government has directed the Punjab government to install ‘prepaid smart electricity meters’ or it may be forced to withhold funds for power reforms.

Addressing a Press conference,  Bains said AAP and its government must come clean on allegations that they were splurging astronomical amounts of people’s money on planting reports in the conventional and social media to promote its cause by creating a smokescreen of lies to mislead the people .
“These reports have been deliberately misleading the people by suggesting the AAP government may not be able to fulfil its free power commitment because of the Centre’s decision on pre-paid electricity.

This is an outrageous lie and an absurd excuse. Prepaid or postpaid , the state government has to pay the same amount for its committed liability,” he said.

Bains  alleged the AAP government was indulging in cosmetic touch ups to hide its lack of will to fulfill its promises to the people. “The anti corruption helpline as well as chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s claim that Punjab would save thousands of crores through curtailment of MLA’s pensions are just two of the cosmetic lies,” he added.

Bains challenged the Chief Minister to make public the actual figure of money saved through pension curtailment. He also challenged the CM to publish on a government website on a daily basis the details of number of complaints received through the helpline as well as number of cases resolved and the names of the concerned corrupt officials punished by the government as a result of these complaints.

Bains also took strong exception to the CM’s begging for Rs One lakh crore from the Prime Minister during his very first meeting. He said the Central assistance in such cases was always in the form of loans.  “In last 75 years, Punjab added a debt burden of Rs Three lakh crores, but by begging for Rs One lakh crore from the PM, the AAP government plans to raise it to Rs Four lakh crores in just two years- an increase by 150% in two years alone,” he added.

Bains also asked why the CM had to beg when AAP leaders like Arvind Kejriwal had been boasting that they would generate Rs 54000 crores by stopping corruption and illegal sand mining alone. “They (AAP) claimed this money was being looted by traditional politicians. Now that the traditional politicians are no longer in power, what stops Kejriwal and Mann to raise funds to fulfill their promise of 600 free units of power  and Re 1000 per month to every adult Punjabi  female,” he added.
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