Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh tells Harpreet Bajwa that his government inherited a disastrous fiscal situation and that he will fulfil all promises, including farmers’ loan waiver. Excerpts:
How do you rate your government’s performance in the first three-and-a-half months?
Quite satisfactory. In measuring the performance of any government, one has to look at multiple parameters, including its fiscal situation—which is utterly disastrous in our case—and how effectively we have been implementing our promises and decisions. Three-and-a-half months is just a dot on a five-year map. But what we have achieved in this period and the way we have started transforming our poll promises into reality have laid the platform for the state’s progress.
What is your take on GST?
The Congress is not opposed to GST. It has only been protesting the multiple slabs in it, which is against the spirit of GST, whose basic tenet was ‘one nation, one tax’. GST will be beneficial for cash-strapped Punjab. We will implement it in toto.
Your minister Rana Gurjit Singh is involved in the sand mining controversy.
The judicial commission of inquiry probing the allegations will get to the truth of the matter and only then action will be taken. Our zero tolerance approach to corruption is not just a phrase but a commitment we have made to the people, to which we will stick to at all costs.
Punjab’s loan waiver to farmers will be `9,500 crore. How will your cash-strapped government pay it?
We don’t need to generate these funds in one go, but over five years. That is enough time for us to judiciously manage the state’s finances. I expect GST to contribute significantly to the state exchequer, which will also start gaining from investments over the next few months. We’ll be negotiating farm loans with banks. We’re also working on several out-of-the-box initiatives to generate revenue, a portion of which will be allocated every year towards loan repayment. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and we definitely have the will needed to resolve the crisis.
Before elections, you said you’ll rid Punjab of its drug problem within four weeks, but nothing has happened about it.
Hasn’t it been solved? Can you see drugs smugglers and peddlers going around dealing in narcotics as they used to? Do you see drugs available off the shelf, as they were earlier? Where are all those drugs and the drugs mafia? If you don’t see them roam the state freely, then isn’t the conclusion obvious that drugs is no longer the menace it used to be? We’ve broken the backbone of the drugs cartel
Your Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu scrapped all projects started in the Badals’ tenure.
He is looking at all projects launched during the Badals’ tenure, especially in the last few months of their rule, just as we had committed to do. All ministries and departments have been asked to review the decisions taken and projects launched by the SAD-BJP government towards the end of their tenure and revoke/cancel those that flout rules. Sidhu is doing that.
Have you shaken off the influence of SAD in bureaucratic circles?
It’s an ongoing process, which we will continue to pursue aggressively to bring in transparency in governance. What is needed is a mindset change. Bureaucrats, police and government officials had, in the past 10 years, become so used to political interference that they are finding it difficult to shrug off that mindset. I’ve made it clear to all officers that they should act freely and without succumbing to any political pressure. I’ve directed all Congress leaders and MLAs not to interference in their work. The two need to work together without getting into each other’s shoes.
After you, there’s no second line of leadership in the Punjab Congress.
There are several popular and competent leaders who’ll become more capable over the next four and three quarter years to take over the party reigns. We have a clear roadmap to nurture young talent and groom them to steer the Congress in Punjab going forward.