Chandigarh, Aug 14 (PTI) The SAD on Wednesday called Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria’s meeting with the state’s administrative secretaries as “against the spirit of federalism as enshrined in the Constitution”.
Referring to a meeting held by Kataria with administrative secretaries of the state on Tuesday for reviewing the progress of central development projects and welfare schemes, SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said the “new trend” amounted to “direct interference” in the internal affairs of the state by the Union government.
The governor had said he would act as a bridge between the Centre and the Punjab government for the development of the state.
In a statement here, asked Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to “set his house in order to avoid interference in the state affairs by the Centre”.
The “new trend” of governors holding direct meetings of administrative officers of the state would result in a “doubling in command” and would be “detrimental” to the interests of the state, alleged Cheema.
“Such meetings will also affect Centre-state relations,” he said.
Stating that the SAD had always stood for more powers to the states, Cheema said it was unfortunate that in recent years, the state governments were being “subjugated” by the Centre and not being allowed to plan and implement their own state specific schemes.
“This has resulted in friction between the states and the Centre in recent years and also resulted in misery for Punjabis with Central funds in the health and education sector being withheld by the Union government. We have also witnessed Punjab being denied its rural development fund (RDF) dues,” he said.
Stressing that there could not be “two parallel governments” in the state — one elected by the people of Punjab and another appointed by the Union government — Cheema said the states should be allowed to run their own affairs.
He said this was all the more important in a border state like Punjab.
“The entire responsibility for running the state should lie with the elected government,” he stressed.
The SAD leader also requested the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to perform its constitutional duties and not give an opportunity to the Centre to “interfere” in the state affairs due to its “ineptitude”. PTI CHS VSD KSS KSS
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