Entangled in legal issues, Moga MLA Jain ‘forgets’ development promises Caught in a legal wrangle, Moga MLA —the Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Joginder Pal Jain — seems to have little time to honour the promises that he had made during campaigning for the Moga bypoll. Six months ago, Jain was re-elected as the Moga MLA in a bypoll that he had necessitated after his defection from the Opposition Congress. He had then claimed that his sole motive behind shifting to SAD was to speed up development work that he claimed had been stuck due to lack of support from state government as he was with the Congress. While he started off by silencing his critics with a huge victory in the bypolls, things have not been smooth since. His legal troubles have already cost him a plum post. On the insistence of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, Jain had to resign as chairman of the Punjab State Warehousing Committee, that he had been handed immediately after his defection. Jain’s only noticeable achievement so far has been a six-day sangat darshan of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that was held for the first time in Moga between March 30 and April 4. The chief minister had then granted funds of around Rs 8.28 crore for development work in Moga but work is yet to start on the ground. Among the high-profile promises on Jain’s list was the management of stray cattle that has turned fatal for quite a few in Moga. Six months since his election, however, the condition remains the same with the district administration claiming that it has no funds to tackle the problem. Despite special arrangements having been made at the Charik Pashu Mandi, Jain himself admits that nothing has changed. “We caught some cattle and left them in Faridkot but I agree that the overall result has been zero. Neither have funds come nor have Charik arrangements helped. Due to my busy schedule I was not able to focus on this,” Jain told The Sunday Express. All on paper, nothing on the ground —sums up Jain’s achievements so far. While Rs 2.45 crore was sanctioned for three new government schools in wards number 6, 25 and 24, work is yet to begin. Along similar lines, despite the Municipal Committee having sanctioned around Rs 7.5 crore for sewerage work and laying of pipes in Moga city, the project has been literally stalled for more than a year even as the city battles waterlogging even at minimum rainfall. “The work was stalled due to technical problems and now we have started laying pipes in Maharaja Ranjit Singh Nagar. Rs 5 crore is still left with us and we will use them soon,” Jain said. His bypoll manifesto had ignited the hope of sports lovers as he had promised to refurbish the only indoor stadium in the city that is presently in shambles. While Jain claims that a team of designers from New Delhi have already prepared a layout for renovation and that Deputy CM Sukhbir had provided Rs 4 crore for the project, the stadium continues to be in a pathetic state. Another development work in the docks is the Rs 5.90 crore Moga bypass (Moga-Ferozepur road to Moga-Amritsar road), for which CM Parkash Badal had laid the foundation stone on April 1. The road is still a single-lane one with no signs of doubling work having started.
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 07:11:25 +0000
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