Times of India: Chandigarh: Saturday,
June 11, 2016.
Congress
Legislative Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday alleged that
the state transport department had spent more than Rs 97 crore on government
vehicles provided to the chief minister, deputy CM and the state cabinet from
2007 to 2015.
Citing
information procured under RTI Act, Channi said Badals should come in public
and take part in an open debate on the state's financial crisis and
implementation of social security schemes in the past 10 years.
Citing RTI
information, Channi said that while Punjab was staring at a "financial
emergency", the Badals were enjoying the best of luxuries, entitled to
them by the state exchequer. "The state transport department spent the
highest Rs 17.77 crore in 2012-2013 on their transport. For 2008-09, the
expenditure was Rs 8.38 crore. In the last fiscal, 2014-15, the expenditure was
Rs 13.13 crore," he said.
He added that
more than 2.5 lakh beneficiaries were removed from the old-age pension scheme
after the 2014-15 fiscal. "How is it possible that 2.5 lakh beneficiaries
were removed in just one year; there is something fishy in this also," he
added. tnn
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