The Punjab Congress warned on Monday that the state was being pushed into bankruptcy by an “inexperienced” Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, which it said was the biggest spender and lacked expertise and competence, especially in budget management.
Party spokespersons Hardeep Singh Kingra, Arshpreet Singh Khadial and Jaskaran Singh Kahlon said it was the first time in the history of the state budget that a government had spent ₹5,500 crores in the first quarter.
They accused the state government of extravagant spending on swearing-in ceremonies, helicopter rides and advertisements. “When the AAP government presented the budget, it claimed that it had brought a paperless budget and saved about ₹22 million. Later they spent more than ₹40 lakh on advertisements, claiming they brought paperless budget,” they claimed.
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Two detained for ‘forcing’ religious conversion in Gurdaspur
Amid a row over alleged forced conversions in Punjab, two self-proclaimed pastors were arrested for forcing a Sikh family to embrace Christianity in the town of Kalanaur of Gurdaspur district on Sunday night. The defendants are Balkar Masih and Jagtar Singh, both residents of Gurdaspur district. When the accused approached the complainant, Upkar Singh, a resident of Adliwala village in Amritsar district on Sunday evening, members of Sikh organizations also gathered there and staged a protest. A video of the incident was shared on social media.
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Man who scouted before Moose Wala murder caught in Haryana
A man, who allegedly transmitted real-time information on the movements of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala and provided safe haven for his killers before the crime, was arrested by Punjab police from Dabwali in Haryana on Monday. A resident of Kalianwali village in Haryana, Bittu Singh, had been on the run since the murder of Moose Wala in Jawahrke village in Mansa district on May 29.
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Plan of robbery of a petrol pump foiled in Kapurthala, 5 detained
Five armed men, who planned to rob a petrol pump on the Kapurthala-Subhanpur road, were arrested on Monday. The arrested defendants are Navjot Singh, Karan Lahori, Ravinder Pal Singh, Sameer and Sandeep Singh. The defendants had obtained their weapons from a resident of Kartarpur, Vijay Kumar, the SSP said.
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22 Sikh prisoners, including six convicted in the Beant murder case, are behind bars
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and Shiromani Akali Dal have stepped up their campaign for the release of 22 Sikh prisoners who they say are languishing in jail despite having served their sentences. Housed in prisons in different states, they have been convicted in terrorism cases. Eight of them have been in prison for 20 years or more.
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Ex-soldiers protest scrapping GoG program in Punjab
The state-level event held to mark the 125th anniversary of the Battle of Saragarhi at the Saragarhi memorial in Ferozepur was punctuated by a massive protest by former servicemen against the scrapping of the Guardians of Governance scheme on Monday. Chief Guest Minister Fauja Singh Sarari waited in his car for almost 40 minutes. Later, the minister and his convoy were escorted to an alternate entrance, the route of which is under military surveillance.
