Beset by ups & downs, AAP’s Punjab govt marks 6 months

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government that completed six months in Punjab on Friday, September 16, has had several highs, lows and rows to its credit.

The AAP swept the February assembly poll with a landslide victory winning 92 of the 117 seats in Punjab.

While Congress bagged 18 seats, the Shiromani Akali Dal won 4 (including the 1 won by its ally BSP), the BJP 2 and one independent candidate won. The results came on March 10 and Bhagwant Mann was sworn in as the chief minister on March 16 while 10 of his colleagues took oath as ministers three days later.

The major scores of the AAP government have so far been the implementation — though by baby steps — of its big ticket poll promises of giving 300 units of power free every month and opening 100 “mohalla clinics”, besides a few others. The freebies are not without further burdening the state exchequer which is already under a whopping debt of Rs2.63 lakh crore. The AAP government has also hogged the limelight for successfully notifying one MLA, one pension rule, in the state. Earlier, a legislator got a pension for each stint. This move of the AAP government would save Rs100 crore to the exchequer annually.

Acting sternly against the grabbing of the panchayat land in the state, the Mann government has also claimed that over 9,000 acres of panchayat land, including prime land near Mohali and other cities, have been freed from illegal encroachments.

The AAP government has also doubled ex gratia to the soldiers dying on duty from Rs50 lakh to Rs1 crore and also announced a government job to their next of kin.

The AAP government’s highs in the agriculture, health sector, in generating employment and other social sectors, notwithstanding, one of its major low include its failure to fulfil its promise of giving Rs 1,000 per month to all women above 18 years of age.

The May 29 last killing of the popular singer Sidhu Moosewala that shocked the state, also put the government in poor light mainly because the murder took place soon after the AAP government had temporarily withdrawn the security cover of 424 VIPs including Moosewala. However, the state police with the help of Central agencies and the Delhi Police managed to crack the case by nabbing the shooters even as the motive behind the crime is still a mystery.

The government was again seen in bad light after health minister Vijay Singla was caught in a corruption case, sacked and jailed.

The AAP government has now been again caught in another embarrassing situation following the release of an audio clip in which its food processing minister Fauja Singh Sarari is heard allegedly planning to extort money from some contractors. The Mann government, despite its efforts, has also been seen failing in checking illegal mining. It is also in a major controversy after it has accused the BJP of indulging in horse trading to topple it a few days ago.