Chandigarh – Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister, Punjab during election campaigns under ‘Mission Punjab 2022’ misled the people of Punjab during election rallies in February, 2022 when he allured the voters with his commitment to the protection of the people of Punjab and the holy books of all religions and refused additional security offered to him by the Government. At that time, he said that I am not worried about my security.
After grabbing power, the reality is quite visible. The people of Punjab have started feeling cheated by the ‘Badlav’ as total transparency in administration is missing. The information sought by me as Leader of Opposition regarding the number of vehicles provided by the Security Wing and the State Transport Department, Punjab which have been attached security of different Chief Ministers, Punjab, from March 15, 2007, to date, along with details of security personnel, designation-wise, attached in the CM’s security, has been denied by the Additional Director General of Police, Special Protection Unit, Punjab even while rejecting the appeal as the First Appellate Authority by wrongly invoking exemption under Section 24(4) and 8 of the RTI Act, vide his letter dated 21.10.2022.
The fact is that the present Chief Minister has turned a deaf ear to the security of the people and surpassed all his predecessors as far as the misuse of security vehicles and personnel is concerned. Even all relatives of the so-called Aam Aadmi Party office bearers, including the distant relations, are misusing the government vehicles under the garb of security provided to the Chief Minister. Not only relatives, even the leader of the AAP Party not connected with the State, fall in the list of beneficiaries and my repeated allegation to this effect has attracted only studied silence from the officials.
The main objective of the provisions of the Right to Information Act is to promote honesty and transparency in decision-making, which is the sine qua non of an honest administration. Denial of information proves sweeping the misdoings of the present dispensation under the carpet under the garb of provisions granting exemption under the Right to Information Act. This shows that the slogan of Aam Aadmi was used to grab power by misleading the people of Punjab. The brazen misuse of official funds and machinery for satisfying the thirst of the Aam Aadmi Party for grabbing power shows the present Government in its true colours.
