हिंदी
(Dr Daljit S Cheema says there was a multi-hundred crore scam in doling out of ads and the same should be probed and punishment meted out to its perpetrators)
Chandigarh, December 20 – The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today appealed to Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit to direct the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to pay for all advertisements issued by it in electronic, print and social media to promote the party in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat besides other States, asserting this could not be done at the cost of the Punjab tax payers.
In a statement here, SAD senior leader and former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema also requested the Governor to institute a probe to quantify the amount which had been wasted in this manner and direct AAP to pay the same from its coffers to compensate the Punjab government. “This can be done on the same pattern as directed by the Lt Governor of Delhi who has ordered recovery of Rs 97 crore from the AAP government for publishing political advertisements in the name of government ads.
Dr Daljit Cheema said in the case of Punjab, the AAP government had kept aside Rs 750 crore for advertisements and was spending an average of nearly Rs three crore on advertisements every day. “A majority of this advertisement spend has been done outside the State, particularly in Himachal and Gujarat where elections were held recently. Frittering away State resources to expand the network of the party in other States is a clear cut violation of Supreme Court guidelines on the use of public funds for government advertisements and the party should be hauled up for the same”, the senior leader requested the Governor.
Asserting that the entire manner in which advertisements were being doled out by the present government amounted to a multi-hundred crore scam, Dr Daljit Cheema said “the entire process of giving out advertisements and the kickbacks involved should be probed so that responsibility of the massive fraud could be pinned down and its perpetrators punished as per law”.
Stating that the Punjab government was issuing advertisements with the sole aim of promoting AAP and its supremo Arvind Kejriwal as well as the latter’s failed Delhi model, Dr Cheema also appealed to the Governor to issue strict instructions to the government to only issue those advertisements which were concerned with the welfare of Punjab and Punjabis and stop advertisements which promoted AAP solely.
Raising another important issue, the senior SAD leader said it had also come to light that the Punjab government was victimizing media houses who were not issuing paid news as per the dictates of AAP. “This is a very disturbing trend as it concerns the freedom of speech”, he said while detailing how the government had stopped all advertisements to the Ajit group of newspapers in this connection. He said Ajit newspaper was one of the most widely circulated papers in the region and represented Punjab and Punjabiyat. “It is condemnable that this paper is being victimized even as inconsequential papers in Gujarat and even South India are being given advertisements”. He said there were also reports that advertisements had also been stopped to a leading electronic channel. “The SAD condemns this trend and demands that it be stopped immediately”.
Dr Cheema said besides stopping advertisements to media houses which did not agree to spout its propaganda, the AAP government was also registering criminal complaints against them. He said a criminal non-bailable case had been filed against a prominent web channel solely because it highlighted the forcible demolition of a large number of houses in Latifpura in Jalandhar. Expressing solidarity with the victimized web channel and its management, Dr Cheema said the voice of the fourth estate could not be muzzled like this in a democracy. EOM
