Sunder Sham Arora ridicules Akali Dal claims over ‘flight’ of industry

Arora ridicules Akali Dal claims over ‘flight’ of industry

HOSHIARPUR / CHANDIGARH, July 13: Punjab Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora today ridiculed the Shiromani Akali Dal claims about the flight of industry from Punjab due to power failure.

Reacting to a statement by Akali MLA NK Sharma that the industry had started moving out of Punjab due to expensive power and its shortage, Arora remarked, “it is a classic case of the pot calling kettle black”.

He said the Congress government under the leadership of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had restored the faith and confidence of not only the local industry, but from outside also which had shown keen interest in investing here.

The Minister said, it was during the ten year misrule of the Akali-BJP government between 2007 and 2017 that most of the industry had shifted out of Punjab as the Akali leaders had started extorting money from them and even claiming share in the investments. The Akali leaders were running an extortion racket which forced the industry to flee, he said.

Referring to the claims of power shortage in Punjab, Arora said, this was again the legacy of the Akali-BJP government, which had signed flawed and faulty power agreements with some private players that had put the state at a massive disadvantage. He said the issue of the shortage of power had already been addressed and there were no more power cuts for the industry and all industrial units had resumed production.

On the power being expensive in the state, he said, despite their (Akali-BJP’s) faulty power agreements, which has made power very expensive in Punjab, the industrial units were being provided power at the rate of Rs five per unit. He advised the Akalis to check their facts before leveling allegations against the government.