Criticism will invite action: FM

PATIALA, Feb 21: Punjab Finance and Planning Minister Kanwaljit Singh has warned that action would be taken against those who were violat...

PATIALA, Feb 21: Punjab Finance and Planning Minister Kanwaljit Singh has warned that action would be taken against those who were violating discipline by criticising the policies and programmes of the Shiromani Akali Dal SAD.

While talking to media persons here today, Kanwaljit Singh, who is also the party general secretary, said that there was no ground for criticism. Without naming anyone, he said that these leaders had been praising the government policies till about a month ago and opined that the criticism was based on personal grievances of these leaders.

The Finance Minister was here to inaugurate a free eye check-up and operation camp, organised by the Lions Club, Patiala Fort.

He said that five leaders of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee SGPC and belonging to Gurcharan Singh Tohra8217;s group were ministers in the Badal government and were party to the government decisions.

Arguing in the same vein, he said that Tohra8217;s criticism too was unjustified as he was a member of the party8217;s Political Affairs Committee PAC which took decisions on policies and programmes, and that he too had been involved in these decisions.

Asserting that the Akali Dal was as strong as ever, he said that those who had broken away from the party had lost the stature that they enjoyed in the party. In this context he referred to former party leader Kuldip Singh Wadala who had launched his own party.

He said that the SGPC was a duly elected body of the Sikhs and that its decisions were binding on them. Those who were questioning the decisions of the SGPC general house were apparently trying to undermine its importance, he said.

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The Finance Minister said that about 32 projects launched by the Central government under the Integrated Child Development Scheme ICDS faced an uncertain future. He said that though these programmes were fully sponsored by the Central government, the Punjab government had been paying the employees working on these projects, over the last 10 months. He added that the state government had taken up the matter with the Centre and hoped for a favourable action soon.

On the issue of the ongoing strike by teachers of aided schools, he said that their demands were under consideration.

Later, the Finance Minister inaugurated the eye camp, which was presided over by Jasdev Singh Sandhu, chairman of the Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board.