Jalandhar: Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Sunday alleged that successive Congress-led governments at the Centre had meted out step-motherly treatment to Punjab leaving the state`s economy in a deplorable condition.
"Due to the financial injustice meted out to the state by the successive Congress governments, Punjab is reeling under staggering debt," he told a gathering at the 24th death anniversary of Sant Avtar Singh Seechewal here.
Punjab`s economy was in a deplorable condition despite the state`s enormous contributions to make the country surplus in food production, Badal said.
It was ironic that diligent farmers of the state who were feeding the whole country by filling the national food pool were themselves reeling under debt of more than Rs 32,000 crore, he said.
"The worst thing is that the state has been deprived of its legitimate share in revenue collections due to which its overall development has suffered adversely," Badal said.
Lashing out at the Centre, the Chief Minister alleged the Union government had framed policies to deliberately exclude the state from getting benefits.
"Due to such policies, the industry and agriculture of the state are on the brink of economic disaster," he said.
Badal said though the state had produced bumper crop of wheat, the Union government had not made adequate arrangements for storage and lifting of the foodgrains.
He slammed the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for the recent hike in price of petrol.
The hike would unleash fresh inflationary trends breaking the back of the common man, Badal said.
He said the Union government should give economic package to the state for bailing it out from debt burden of Rs 11,000 crore as it had fought the decade-long battle against militancy.
Badal said he had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in this regard.
He said he was hopeful the Union government would look into the matter sympathetically.
PTI
