CHANDIGARH-- Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today expressed displeasure over as a “grave and avoidable political impropriety involved in keeping Punjab in the dark about the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Satellite Center of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, at Sangrur on October 10, 2013.
Disclosing this here today, Mr. Harcharan Bains, Advisor on National Affairs and Media to the Chief Minister said that Mr. Badal had written to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh expressing his strong “surprise, dismay and displeasure” over the unseemly lack of decorum and courtesy involved in the center’s decision. Mr. Badal strongly urged the PM to “impress upon his colleagues not to allow politics to take precedence over issues of development and governmental duties or to over-ride basic governmental courtesies.”
Expressing surprise over the move by the Union Government, Mr. Badal raised a fundamental issue of the spirit of “co-operative federalism “ in the working together of the Union and the state governments for the development and prosperity oof the states and the country. This spirit, he said, had been dealt a severe blow by this needless act of cheap political gimmickry. “The Center and the States must work hand in hand in an atmosphere of complete constructive cooperation, adding to and speeding up the overall developmental thrust. “As a matter of fact, we have always rolled out a red carpet for the honorable members of the Union Government and other constitutional dignitaries from the center,” said Mr. Badal.
The chief Minister said that he was personally satisfied and happy over the Foundation Stone of this prestigious being laid in Sangrur, but “ignoring state government completely was intolerable as it involved not just issues of protocol but also of great political impropriety”, said Mr. Badal.
Objecting both to the manner and motive behind the move to lay the Foundation Stone ceremony of a major development project in the state without keeping the state government in the loop, Mr. Badal said that this smacked of a low-level petty politicking gimmick, something that did not behove the government of a free democratic country like India. “The actin lacked courtesy and there was a definite loss of grace and dignirty on the part of some people in the Government of India who thought they were being too smart in politicizing an issue of sensitive significance to the people of the state.
The Chief Minister told the PM that he had been surprised by the deliberately mischief move of not letting the state government agencies know about the function . “This is not how mature governments and political parties function in a responsible democracy,” said Mr. badal.
No one in th state government ahd been informed about the GoI’s programme at the level of the Union Ministry of Health to lay the foundation stone of the Satellite Center at Sangrur on October 10, 2013 in with some senior members of the Union Government, including the Minster for Health and some other senior leaders of the ruling party were taking part.
Mr. Badal pointed out that the proposal for setting up this Satellite Centre of PGIMER in Punjab had been personally initiated by him ( Mr. Badal) in October 2012. The state government ahd identified a suitable piece of land for it in Sangrur. Later, he along with Union Health Secretary, Director, PGIMER, and state government’s officers had also visited the site, said Mr. Badal.
Mr. Badal said he had personally urged the Union Health Ministry to accord approval to this project and with continuous efforts and persistent follow-up by the state government it had been Okayed. “Keeping in view the importance and the necessity of the project state government had always moved fast and ensured the timely handing over of the site to the Union Health Ministry.