Ludhiana: Union Minister Manish Tewari on Sunday hit out at the Akali government for "exhausting all its resources and energies" on the World Cup Kabaddi tournament, and asked them to pay some attention to public welfare.
Addressing a public meeting at Dhandra village in Gill, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting said the entire government had come to a "standstill" during the last two weeks, which was "unusual".
"Organising sports tournaments is a good thing, but exhausting all the resources and energies on a single event is something unusual," he said.
The final of the fortnight-long tournament was held at Ludhiana yesterday, where India defeated Pakistan to lift the Cup. Pakistan Punjab`s Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest of the occasion.
"During the last two weeks, everybody, right from the Chief Minister to the Deputy Commissioners and SHOs, were busy holding Kabbadi matches," Tewari said. "This only betrays this government`s lack of concern for public welfare."
Tewari laid the foundation stone for a road to be constructed under Prime Minister`s Gramin Sadak Yojana at a cost of about Rs 1.5 crore in Dhandra during his visit.
Meanwhile, referring to the recently concluded two-day "investors` summit" at Mohali, the Minister said it would have been much better had the Punjab government taken note of the problems being faced by the local industry.
"While the state is trying to invite industry from outside, those inside Punjab are moving out as they have been finding it suffocating in Punjab," he claimed.
The Union Minister said that people were disillusioned with the Akali government and appealed to them to teach the Akali-BJP alliance a lesson in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
