Chandigarh, Aug 22 — The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said on Saturday that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab was set to loot Rs 341 crore from the Treasury under the guise of paying commission to raise a loan of Rs 25,000 crore that it aimed to contest elections.
Akali leader N.K. Sharma demanded an independent probe into the entire issue while asserting that there was no need to pay a commission of Rs 341 crore for raising loans when they were backed by a government guarantee.
"The entire issue smacks of corruption and kickbacks and needs thorough investigation," he told the media here even as he condemned the state government for not making any capital investment plan despite taking such huge loans.
Sharma said the AAP government was also set to bankrupt and destroy two leading institutions of the state -- Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) by forcing them to take huge loans at a high interest rate of 8.65 per cent.
He added that the Rs 10,000 crore loan being taken up by PSPCL would not only lead to an increase in power tariffs but also impact new industrial investment into the state.
He said the industry was already being charged Rs 9 per unit and that this rate would be increased to Rs 13 per unit with PSPCL set to cough up an interest of Rs 17,300 crore on the loan over 20 years.
The Akali Dal leader added that similarly GMADA would also go into the red after being saddled with an Rs 15,000 crore loan and even the salaries of its employees would be endangered.
He also released figures to show how the AAP government was lying and deceiving Punjabis by making wild claims of giving 65,000 new government jobs to youth.
He said that according to information taken by the SAD under the Right to Information Act, the AAP government had only advertised 24,000 vacancies in the last more than four years.
"These include all vacancies advertised by the Subordinate Services Selection Board which recruits candidates for category B, C and D jobs as well as vacancies advertised by the PSPCL and other departments."
He demanded that the state government release a list of all 65,000 government jobs it had given youth during its tenure.
Sharma also castigated the AAP government for not giving dearness allowance to state employees but frittering away Rs 5,000 crore in advertisements.
He said the situation was such that the state government had even given a four-month Rs 60 crore contract to a private company to delete all negative comments against it on social media.