Cabinet Minister Charanjit Singh Channi looks on as his driver removes beacon from his vehicle in Chandigarh. Tribune file photo

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 19

Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his council of ministers today removed red beacons from their vehicles even as a formal notification in this regard is yet to be issued.An official statement said the beacons were removed on Saturday soon after the Amarinder-led government took a decision to shun VIP culture at its maiden meeting. The government’s move to shed the VIP frills is in line with the state Congress poll manifesto.Though the Chief Minister and the Cabinet ministers were exempted in the Congress manifesto, they decided to bring themselves within the ambit of the decision, said an official spokesperson.The removal of the beacons marks the beginning of the effort of the state government, which is burdened by a huge debt inherited from the previous regime, to clean up the official system of the much-hyped VIP culture that has been a huge drain on the exchequer over the years, while causing extreme hardships to the common man, the spokesperson added.Meanwhile, the process of implementation of other decisions of the Cabinet has also been initiated, said the official spokesperson, adding that all decisions would be executed in a stringent time-bound framework, with the Chief Minister and the ministers concerned monitoring the process to ensure that there is no default or delay.Power Minister not impressedEven as the government has initiated various measures to shun VIP culture, removing beacons being one of them, one of its ministers has expressed a contrarian view. Just before the maiden Cabinet meeting of the Amarinder-led Congress government on Saturday, Power Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh in a TV interview said that he won’t stop using the red beacon on his official car. He said he got the beacon after a lot of hard work and struggle, so he won’t surrender it. He also cited security concerns as one of the reasons. The minister could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.Policy on beacons soonThe process of finalisation of a policy on use of beacons on government vehicles, barring those on emergency/ambulance/fire brigade vehicles and the vehicles of the Chief Justice and judges of Punjab and Haryana High Court, has already started. Once the notification is issued, all departments will implement it.

Phoolka: AAP MLAs to accept minimal security

Leader of Opposition HS Phoolka in Ludhiana on Sunday. Tribune Photo

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 19

Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly and AAP MLA HS Phoolka said party MLAs would accept bare minimum security which was required to discharge duties as MLA.“Our MLAs will have maximum of four security guards, two for security at the official residence and two will remain with the MLA throughout the day. Besides, our MLAs will also accept the official residence and car which is also required to fulfil day-to-day political obligations. However, we will not use beacon or hooter on our official cars to discourage the VIP culture,” Phoolka said.On being asked how many security guards an MLA is entitled to, Phoolka said he had no idea of it and would have to get it checked. He, however, added that even Manpreet Badal had accepted minimum security comprising six guards.Phoolka said party MLAs would accept the official accommodation because they did not have personal residence in Chandigarh. “I don’t have a house in Chandigarh and being a leader I require official residence to discharge my duties and so is the case with other MLAs,” he added.Phoolka said he had been told that the Leader of Opposition was entitled to special police route to prevent any traffic bottlenecks, but he would not prefer any route. He urged people to post photographs of leaders or bureaucrats using red beacon on his mobile number and AAP would ensure action.He said most of the decisions taken by the Congress in its first Cabinet meeting, including abolition of VIP culture, were the brainchild of AAP. Phoolka said the AAP would also support all decisions of the Congress favouring Punjab.

MY AGENDA : RANA GURJEET SINGH, POWER & IRRIGATION MINISTER

Govt to review power purchase agreements with pvt players

Rana Gurjeet Singh, power & irrigation minister

Rajmeet Singh

The Congress government will review the power purchase agreements between the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and private players involved in electricity generation in the state.“These agreements, signed during the tenure of the previous government, are against the state’s interests. These will be reworked to Punjab’s advantage. We are also revisiting the power policy,” says Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh.In the run-up to the elections, the Congress had accused the PSPCL of extending undue benefits to the tune of Rs 7,500 crore to private players, allowing them to raise their variable costs arbitrarily, thus making power expensive for the consumers.“Economic sense says that privatisation leads to competitiveness, which the existing agreements do not encourage,” he says. According to Rana Gurjeet, the incentives and facilities provided to the industry should eventually benefit the state.“We can no longer afford to shut down state-run power plants so that private companies earn profits. This practice will be stopped,” he asserts.His top priority will be providing affordable, round-the-clock power for domestic, commercial and industrial consumers, besides probing alleged bungling in the allotment of tubewell connections.On how he will fulfil the poll promise of supplying power at Rs 5 per unit, Rana Gurjeet says he has asked for a detailed presentation on the matter tomorrow. The PSPCL has sought a 20 per cent hike in the power tariff for 2017-18, citing a total revenue deficit of Rs 11,575 crore (including Rs 5,998 crore carried forward from the previous years).Claiming that there is no transparency in electricity billing, he says, “There are hundreds of complaints about inflated bills. The entire model is being reworked.”According to him, the losses also need to be curbed to make the power transmission and distribution system efficient.The minister says many industrial units shifted from the state in the past 10 years because of the flawed power tariff policy of the then SAD-BJP government. “There will be a five-year ceiling on the increase in tariff for the industrial sector. A meeting with the Secretary (Power) and the PSPCL Chairman-cum-Managing Director has been called to discuss the issue,” he adds.

No compromise on SYL

Rana Gurjeet says his party’s stand on the SYL issue is “crystal clear”. “We resigned en masse in protest against the Supreme Court verdict,” he recalls, adding that, “I have called Advocate General Atul Nanda to discuss the issue and frame a strategy to present the state’s case emphatically during the hearing in the apex court on March 28.”The minister says a non-riparian state does not have any right over the waters of the rivers not flowing through it. “And here we are being forced to do what goes against the principle of natural justice. When we are not given a share from the Yamuna waters, why should we share the Sutlej waters, which are exclusively ours?” he asks.

Sangat Darshan largesse to be probed

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 19

Funds distributed by former CM Parkash Singh Badal during Sangat Darshans in the last six months of his government are under the scanner of the Congress government that wants a “thorough probe and an FIR into the scam of distributing money to the selective few”.The government feels that the money thus distributed was misused and funds were arranged by mortgaging government properties to private banks.Health Minister Brahm Mohindra said: “Our government will probe the matter. Prima facie, we have learnt that funds were misused.”“Work on projects undertaken with these funds was carried out in haste,” he said.Sangrur: Local MLA Vijay Inder Singla on Sunday said the government would probe the utilisation of funds meant for the development of the constituency by the SAD-BJP government. —TNS