Don't interfere in Sikh affairs: Badal to Congress

Talwandi Sabo: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday asked the Congress not to interfere in the religious matters of Sikhs with an eye on the forthcoming Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) elections.

Greeting Punjabis and Sikhs on the occasion of Baisakhi, he said Sikhs would not tolerate any interference in their religious affairs by the Congress. Accusing the Congress leadership of always conspiring to divide the Sikh community to take over the control of SGPC, he said the party would never succeed in its "design".

Talking to media persons, Badal said his government had achieved in terms of development within a short span of three years what Congress government had not been able to achieve in the last 60 years. He blamed the Congress government for alleged shortage of power, lack of potable water to people, unemployment problem, less irrigation water for agriculture water, pollution problem and lack of education facilities etc.

He said he had taken up the matter with the Union Government for the rejuvenation and strengthening of canal system as Punjab was providing more than 50 per cent food grains in the central pool for the food security of the country. Referring to the cleaning of the rivers in the state, Badal said his government had envisaged a plan at a cost of Rs 1388 crore to make rivers and canals in the state free from pollution.

Sewage treatment plants were being set up in 45 cities and towns for recycling water for irrigation purposes in the state during the current fiscal.

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Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also addressed the press conference, charged the Congress with shielding the culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and asked the party leadership to be sincere and honest and bring perpetrators of the genocide to book.