Captain Amarinder Singh vows to 'channel' Punjab towards progress

Reiterating his commitment to zero-tolerance on corruption, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said the mantra of his government was good governance.

Saying that corruption was a curse in Punjab and was rampant during the previous regime, Capt Singh said it had kept the industry away from the state. "We will provide good governance," he said.

The chief minister was addressing a distinguished gathering at Zee Television's show – Punjab: The New Roadshow – at the launch of Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal channel, in Chandigarh. Essel Group Chairman and Member of Parliament Dr Subhash Chandra and Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO, Zee Regional Channels, were also present on the occasion.

Capt Singh said his dream was a drug-free Punjab, with industrial revival and crops diversification as focus areas. "This is my last term. I will do everything that I can to bring out the state from the mess," he said. He also took the previous Parkash Singh Badal-led government to task for the financial mess it left behind.

He said the government's white paper would give a clear picture of the state's debt. The actual debt, he added, could be much higher than what the Badals had been projecting and could even be more than Rs 2 lakh crore.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Subhash Chandra said that under the new government, Punjab will not be the same Punjab as was seen in the last 10 years. "There is hope that people will find good governance. There is need to set up more factories in the state to tackle the menace of drug and unemployment. We will also launch social welfare activities in the state," he said. He also announced setting aside Rs 100 crore for social activities in Punjab. "We will take the message to all Punjabis across the globe," he added.

In his address, the Punjab Chief Minister, who led his party to power in the recently-held elections, said his government had instituted an inquiry to probe allegations against Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh in the recent sand mining auctions worth crores.

Responding to the allegations against the Power Minister, Capt Singh said, "He (Rana) was willing to resign, but I stopped him. Without saying much, we will wait for the final report of the judicial commission. If any impropriety is found, he will resign in one minute."

Capt Singh also congratulated Dr Subhash Chandra and Jagdish Chandra on the new venture and welcomed the new channel as a positive step in the direction of bringing transparency in the media.

While promising media houses a favourable and free environment to promote the state's democratic institutions, the CM underlined the need to inform people about the truth, accusing the earlier government of brainwashing people with a false propaganda. He warned the people to beware of the lies sought to be spread by PTC channel, which, he said, was completely under the control of the Badal family.

Pointing out that his government needed to provide 90 lakh jobs to youth, which was the only way to wean them away from drugs, the Chief Minister assured that his government would deliver on all its promises to the people. "I check the Facebook page for two hours daily to keep abreast of what people are thinking and ensure their grievances are addressed," he said.

Terming the crackdown on drugs by the Special Task Force as one of his main achievements since coming to power, the Chief Minister asserted his commitment to breaking the back of drug mafia.

"Over 4,000 accused have been arrested and we will get the bigwigs in due course of time. Out STF has been quite effective. The price of heroin has almost doubled. A lot of drug activity has shifted to Delhi," said the CM.

Talking about the upcoming budget, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal who was also present, said it would be a people-friendly budget which will re-model the state's economy. "It will be a positive budget, which will give a direction to the next four budgets and will be on the lines of party's manifesto. We need to give competitive advantage to industries bringing down power cost to Rs 5 per unit and farmers need to be given debt-relief and their children need to be provided skill-sets for jobs," he said.

Highlighting the menace created by cable mafia in Punjab, Jagdish Chandra, CEO Zee Regional Channels, called for strict action against the mafia. He said the channel will serve as a bridge between people and the government.

Former MP Preneet Kaur, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, PPCC President, Sunil Jakhar, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, H S Phoolka, AAP Vice President Aman Arora, SAD Leader and MLA Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Punjab BJP president Vijay Sampla, Apna Punjab Party president Sucha Singh Chhotepur were also present on the occasion.