CM: Will start fulfilling promises from March

“Similarly,other welfare measure such as enhancement of Shagun amount from Rs 15,000 to Rs 31,000 will also be implemented in the first meeting. All other welfare schemes and educational and other incentives would also be implemented in the first cabinet meeting itself,” he added.

The chief minister reiterated that he stood for making party manifestoes legally binding on political parties. “We have always treated our manifesto as a sacred document and our record in the matter is proof of this approach,” Badal said. He added that the fulfillment of the promises made in the party’s manifesto were also a matter of personal conviction.

“ We implemented the decisions to give free power to farmers and Shagun scheme to dalits in the first cabinet meeting of the then government in March 1997. Similarly,our promise to give subsidised Atta Dal to 16 lakh poor families and enhance the shagun amount from Rs 5,100 to Rs 15,000 were also fulfilled during the first cabinet meeting of the present government in March 2007,’’ he said.

With the polls over,the long wait for results and the presence of the model code has meant little work for the state’s political class as no major policy decision can be taken during the period. While the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has been in the city for last couple of days attending review meetings of different departments and heading the party’s core committee meeting,Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is in Delhi and has visited Chandigarh only twice.

Social Security Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawala is the only one to visit the Punjab Secretariat after the polls and even she was there for a few hours. The other ministers are either in the field or operate out of their residences. Even bureaucrats are coming to their offices for a few hours in a day or on alternate days and are only clearing routine files as no major policy decision can be taken.