Patiala- Senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal today asked Health minister Balbir Singh to tell if he had opened his ministerial bungalow for even one sick family from Punjab and why he had taken ‘mercy’ on Rajasthan resident Gayatri Bishnoi and handed over his bungalow to her.
The Bathinda MP was addressing massive Maawan - Dheeyan Insaaf rallies here and at Samana which attracted thousands of women who vowed to make the SAD’s anti - drug campaign a mass movement.
Asserting that the health minister should tell Punjabis why he had shown so much largesse to Gayatri Bishnoi and the latter’s family, Mrs Harsimrat Badal said “Balbir Singh is already under a cloud as a woman party leader has accused him of sexual harassment. He should come clean and tell why he allowed his ministerial bungalow to be misused”. She said the AAP government should also tell why it was handing over money and resources meant for Punjabis to outsiders.
Mrs Badal also slammed Balbir Singh for not opening even a single medical college after promising to establish 16 medical colleges in the State. She said the deterioration of the Rajindra hospital attached to the Government Medical College was such that doctors were forced to conduct operations by torch light. She also highlighted how seven children had died in an accident in Samana last year due to a collision with a speeding sand laden tipper of the mining mafia but no action was taken in the matter. “Even the local government hospital in Samana is in deplorable condition”, she said adding “you only have to see the facilities created at AIIMS, Bathinda to compare what the erstwhile SAD government achieved in the health sector”.
Speaking about the proliferation of drugs in Punjab, Mrs Badal said “while our youth are dying due to drug over doses, women also have become unsafe. Incidents of chain snatching and robberies have increased”. She said chief minister Bhagwant Mann was directly responsible for this state of affairs as he had failed to fulfill his guarantee to eradicate the drug menace in four months.
Mrs Badal said women were coming up to her and telling that instead of acting against the drug traffickers the AAP government was taking action against the whistle blowers. “The situation is such that ‘aata’ is not available but there is home delivery of ‘chitta’”. The MP said even at such a time when national statistics had also revealed that Punjab was number one in drug trafficking and second in drug overdose deaths, AAP was still trying to defame the SAD on this issue. “Did you see youth lying dead on the streets drug syringes by their side during SAD tenure in government as is happening now?”, she asked.
She also gave the example of Manjit Kaur of Sultanpur Lodhi who lost five sons to drugs in seven years and the case of a Tarn Taran Sarpanch who was shot at for protesting against the sale of drugs in his village. “This is the ground situation now”, Mrs Badal said adding the SAD was committed to bringing in new laws to end this menace once and for all when it formed the government in the State. “Drug traffickers will be denied bail for ten years to send a clear message that no one will be allowed to play with the lives of our children”, the MP added.
Mrs Badal also described how women were being dishonoured in the AAP regime. She said even though seven wronged women had approached the chief minister and two of them had filed rape charges against a media influencer, they did not get justice. “Instead the chief minister’s wife – Gurpreet Kaur Mann negotiated a Rs five crore deal with rapist – Guri Chahal’s aide and ensured the latter was freed from prison. “We demand justice for the rape victims and an independent probe into the bribery assertions made against Gurpreet Kaur”, she asserted.
She also spoke on how the women would reject the AAP government’s bid to buy them off by giving them Rs 3, 000 when they were owed Rs 60, 000 at the rate of Rs 1, 000 per month as per the promise made to them. She said women had the right to demand their dues and this money should be released to them immediately.
Senior leaders N K Sharma, Bittu Chatha and Jagmeet Singh Hariau also accompanied Mrs Badal at the functions.