Akali Dal urges Governor to order probe into Punjab liquor policy
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Aug, 2022 10:40 AM
Chandigarh, Aug 31 (IANS) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday urged the Governor to recommend CBI and ED probes into the alleged excise scam of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab.
Shiromani Akali Dal or me can never be brow beaten by such threats. We have faced political vendetta before but stood firm on our ideals and principles. We will never be cow downed by such tactics.#Summonpic.twitter.com/BZznYBYedz
It said the revamped excise policy of the state government was akin to the Delhi policy and that the same modus operandi was used to give control of the liquor trade to henchmen in return for kickbacks running into hundreds of crores.
A SAD delegation led by its president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and handed over a memorandum stating that the Chief Minister and the Excise Minister have violated the provisions of the Official Secrets Act by making official files of the state available to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MP Raghav Chadha, besides private persons.
It also listed that the Delhi Chief Secretary had in his report stated that the Delhi excise policy is a quid pro quo arrangement at the top level.
It said since the Punjab policy was a copy of the Delhi one, the role of the Delhi Deputy Chief Minister, Chadha and the Punjab Excise Minister, and other private persons should be probed.
It said this case fell within the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act and a case should be registered in this regard also.
While Congress leaders restrained from commenting on the meeting, sources close to Bittu said that there was nothing much in the meeting which was a courtesy call. However, recent instances of Congress leaders leaving the party have triggered speculation of another Congressman desetring the party.
The BJP-ruled Haryana will convene a day-long special session of the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday. A cabinet meeting was held on Sunday under the chairmanship of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who has condemned AAP moving a resolution in the Assembly to transfer Chandigarh to Punjab.
Talking to reporters on Thursday, Gursevwak Singh, the elder brother of Gurwinder Singh, who was one of the four farmers who died, said: "The case should be transferred to Delhi. We all know that the proceedings are being influenced here. No action was taken against the union minister despite his video threatening farmers having gone viral.
The Delhi Police on Thursday said that they have arrested eight persons in a case of vandalism outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. A senior police official confirmed that several teams were conducting raids to nab more people invovled in the case.
Appreciating this initiative of Punjab Mandi Board, Mann said it would benefit to over nine lakh registered farmers, thereby furnishing J-Forms digitally to them for their agriculture produce sold in the markets on their WhatsApp account in real time i.e. immediately on sale being confirmed on the system by the 'arhtiyas' and buyers.
Six gold bars weighing 699.5 grams and valued at Rs 37.30 lakh were detected and seized from a male passenger who arrived by Air India flight AI-952 from Dubai, Customs officials said. He had concealed the gold in his check-in baggage. Further investigation was on.
