Captain in power, cloud over Badals’ businesses in Punjab
in power, the Badals meant “business”. Though Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has offered his predecessor Parkash Singh Badal a free official accommodation, the bonhomie may not go beyond symbolism.The main poll plank of the AAP was that the Congress had a “quid-proquo” arrangement with the SAD.
But if the decisions of the first cabinet meeting held on Saturday are any indication of things to come, the change of guard in Punjab may spell trouble for the flourishing business empire of SAD president Sukhbir Badal, the family of his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia and Sukhbir’s close aides Parbhans Singh ‘Bunty’ Romana, Dimpy Dhillon and Rozy Barkandi.
The Badal family had the biggest share of the transport business’ pie in the state, through directly owned companies such as Dabwali Transport and Orbit Aviation that have a fleet of luxury buses.
The two companies also have indirect stakes in firms of Sukhbir’s close associates Lakhvir Singh and Jagpal Singh.
The cabinet decision to abolish posts of district transport officers, who did the bidding of the ruling elite, and bring in a new transport policy for granting bus permits in a fair and transparent manner is aimed at hitting the business of Sukhbir and Dimpy.
But the ‘Conflict of Interest’ legislation being mooted by the Amarinder government to disqualify ministers and MLAs with business interests in official positions will have to apply with out exceptions. Many Congress leaders too have stakes in the transport business.
The new excise policy approved by the cabinet also abolished L1-A licence, through which the previous government had made super franchisees for liquor and restricted their number to five. The ones who got the L1-A licence were Bikram’s elder brother, Gurmehar Majithia of Saraya Group of Companies, Romana who had master franchisee of Kingfisher and former Akali Dal MLA Deep Malhotra.
But in liquor business too the wires between Congress and Akalis are interlinked. Now the cabinet has abolished it altogether and also cut down the quota of imported and countrymade liquor.
The cabinet also moved to bring in a new act in the assembly to regulate cable network by setting up a regulatory body. It is aimed at ending “monopoly” in both news and cable business. Sukhbir owns PTC Network, which has news and entertainment channels. It also has exclusive rights to telecast Gurbani from the Golden Temple, granted by Badal-controlled Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
The cabinet has decided the department of mining would take necessary steps for “decartelising” mining of sand and stone/gravel in the state to achieve the objective of transparency in mining operations. But like in other businesses, some former Congress MLAs too have stakes in illegal mining.