Mansa, March 5
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal today announced the SAD was committed to holistic development of rural areas and would take up development of all 13,000 villages by laying concrete streets and sewerage system besides cleaning and beautifying village ponds and building ‘pucca’ houses for each and every villager bereft of his own home once it formed the government in 2027.
Presiding over a massive rally of the Sardulgarh constituency at Jhunir along with senior leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar, the SAD president said “we have drawn up a plan to upgrade infrastructure in villages in phases with 3,000 villages being taken up for development each year. Once this is done, each and every village in Punjab will have the same civic amenities as available in cities”.
Asserting that the SAD had always stood for delivery, Badal asserted, “We have never made promises we can’t fulfill. I appeal to Punjabis – if they want world class roads, a schooling system which makes our children the leaders of tomorrow and modern hospitals and medical colleges – they should vote for me and the SAD. On the other hand leaders like Bhagwant Mann can only offer negative politics and jokes and Charanjit Channi’s major claim to fame is his ability to milk goats and weave manje.”
Badal said the SAD was also committed to benefitting government employees who voted for the Aam Aadmi Party believing the latter’s false promises and were now feeling most betrayed. “All Pay Commissions were instituted and implemented during SAD tenure. I promise once a SAD government is formed in 2027 all Dearness Allowance arrears will be released. We are also committed to bringing in a system to ensure posting close to home towns, reintroducing the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and ensuring prompt pay revisions”.
Telling Punjabis not to be befooled by the recent move of the AAP government to sell off government properties in the guise of providing Rs 1,000 per month to women for three months in the run up to the assembly elections, Badal said “This is a conspiracy to loot Punjab and spend part of the proceeds to influence votes. The SAD earlier thwarted the acquisition of more than one lakh acres of land which was to be handed over to Delhi builders by launching a ‘morcha’ against the same. Now we will oppose tooth and nail a similar plan to sell off land belonging to the PSPCL and the Municipal Corporations to self profit from the same”.
Speaking on the occasion, Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal spoke on how massive development had been undertaken in Sardulgarh during earlier SAD governments. This, she said, included upgradation of 32 schools, establishing seven power grids and ten water works, Judicial complex and Reverse Osmosis plants in all villages. Both the SAD president and the Bathinda MP expressed their gratitude to Balwinder Singh Bhundar for standing with the party through thick and thin. Badal also appreciated Dilraj Singh Bhundar for making the rally a huge success.
