Chandigarh, Jan 15 (IANS) Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal Thursday accused political leaders from various parties and the media for creating a wrong impression and twisting facts to project Punjab as a state of people addicted to drugs and being bankrupt.
Making a presentation in Patiala town, 80 km from here, at his first public conclave series to sensitize people about "real facts" about the state, Badal said that he would unmask the "conspiracy of vested interests who want to make political capital by dubbing the state as bankrupt and Punjabis as drug addicts".
Urging political parties and leaders to rise above "petty interests", he said that creating wrong perceptions about the state was harming the interests of Punjab.
"The idea of the conclave arose in my mind after multinational companies desirous of investing in the state started asking questions about the extent of drug addiction in Punjab. I then realized that repeated wrong perceptions created by some ill-informed political leaders had been twisted by the media and Punjab was being projected as a state facing a serious crisis of drug addiction," he noted.
"We are victims of this drugs war. We are fighting the nation's war on drugs," Badal said.
Contending that Punjab had performed well on all economic indicators, he said Punjab's GDP had doubled from Rs.5,000 crore to Rs.10,000 crore in five years and Punjab's share in the national GDP had witnessed a substantial increase to 3.23 percent despite forming only 2.4 percent population of the country.
He said that a progressive state like Punjab was being punished by devolution of central taxes.
"Punjab's share in devolution of central taxes has been reduced from 2.45 percent in 1970 to 1.32 percent at present. Inefficiently-performing states like Uttar Pradesh got devolution of funds to the tune of Rs.83,620 crore whereas Punjab got only Rs.9,270 crore in 2012-13."
"We must stop encouraging inefficient and non-performing states and punishing best-governed and performing states like Punjab," Badal said.
The central government has agreed to accept their conditions to make Moderna and Pfizer's corona
Exit polls got it wrong in Delhi
New Delhi, Feb 10 (IANS) The exit polls were way off the mark in the Delhi assembly election, w
Once again the prices of edible oil may come down. The government has asked the companies to cons
The Burning Train: Fire in 4 coaches of Durg Express in Morena, going from Delhi to Chhattisgarh
The fire broke out in four bogies of Durg Express going from Delhi to Chhattisgarh on Friday. Sud
Acute shortage of optometrists in India
Kolkata, March 10 (IANS) The nation needs about 1.15 lakh optometrists while it presently has o
When the first phase of voting is going on, suddenly Prime Minister Modi reached Saharanpur. He a
The ED's interrogation of former Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case
Uber rape case: Court to hear final arguments Feb 16
New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) A court here Wednesday fixed Feb 16 for final arguments in the rape cas
The havoc of rain has been seen in Thane city of Maharashtra. Life came to a standstill on Saturd
If Imran Khan's government falls, then what will happen next in Pakistan?
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan is going through the most difficult phase of his political c
