Chandigarh: Citing conflict of interest, Congress leader Amarinder Singh on Sunday said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal should either resign or shut down his transport and other businesses, days after death of a girl after being shoved off from a bus owned by the ruling family.
The Congress' Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha alleged that number of Badal family-owned buses has increased from 40 to 250 since they came to power and they threatened into submission all other transporters as well as Punjab Roadways.
"All these years, in a clear case of conflict of interest, you have brutally abused your position and power and multiplied your fleet of buses from 40 to 250 by threatening and bullying not only other private transporters, but also the PRTC (Pepsu Road Transport Corporation) and Punjab Roadways into submission.
"It has eventually led to everybody except you suffering huge losses while you are making huge profits," he told Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a statement issued here.
The Congress leader claimed that when he became chief minister of Punjab in 2002, he was among the Board of Directors of some companies like Ranbaxy, DLF Industrial Cables and Mount Shivalik Breweries.
Singh said he resigned from all the companies after seeking a legal opinion from the Punjab Advocate General, who told him that this amounted to "conflict of interest" since all these companies were based in and operating from Punjab.
The former Chief Minister alleged that while the Badals have grabbed about 250 route permits, most of these forcibly, they were actually plying about 500 buses on all the profit making routes.
"No government official or the police can dare to stop these buses as your conductors and drivers misbehave with officials and get away with it," he told Badal while adding, "the Moga incident was the outcome of the same immunity from law you have provided to your erring and bullying drivers and conductors."
He said, abusing their power, the Orbit Aviations Ltd has grabbed all the profit making routes from other transporters by threatening and bullying them physically and slapping false cases if anybody refused and left out the loss making routes for them and the PRTC and Punjab Roadways.
"Otherwise why the PRTC and Punjab Roadways and other transporters are making losses while Badals' fleet is multiplying?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said that his party's agitation will continue till registration of a case under Section 304-A (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against the owners and permanent cancellation of permits of buses owned by Badals.
He said that his party's stand got vindicated after the Deputy Chief Minister asked buses of his company to be off the road yesterday.
Bajwa had alleged that the transport company had recruited "rogue" elements who had no respect for the rule of law due to the political patronage.
He said the call given by the Congress to 'gherao' Orbit buses in Mohali on May 4 had now become infructuous and hence withdrawn after the move.
Bajwa said that Sukhbir Badal had now conceded the deficiencies and hence the case for booking him under Section 304 A of IPC (Causing death by negligence) had been further strengthened.
The permits of these buses must be verified.
Bajwa said the buses had been withdrawn only temporarily to save them from the public ire and increased pressure from every section of society.
Now, Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Union minister) had the proof about the ownership of the bus involved in the heinous crime as the owner was no else but her husband, he said.
"He reminded her that she was also shareholder in the company at one time. She had no moral right to continue as the Union Minister as she lacked courage to face the bitter reality," he said.
He said most of the Badal family buses had tainted glasses and window curtains which was violation of the Supreme Court directive.
"The very person whose job is it was to implement the law of the land had been violating it with impunity and the consequences had been disastrous as this lawlessness resulted in the brutal death of a young Dalit girl. This was just inhuman," he said.
Bajwa said it had become clear that the antecedents of the persons having been recruited were never checked and this again was in violation of the law.
