Punjab CM appointing outsiders in development panel: Pratap Singh Bajwa

Punjab: PCC chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and CLP leader Pratap Singh Bajwa on Monday accused the AAP government of appointing outsiders – mostly close to the AAP’s Delhi leadership – to top posts in the Punjab Development Commission (PDC). Bajwa said the PDC was constituted in September 2023 through a notification under the Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) Act, without introducing a bill in the assembly. In March 2024, the PDC advertised and appointed eight consultants at a salary of Rs 2.65 lakh per month, 15 joint consultants at a salary of Rs 2.20 lakh per month and 15 senior research officers at a salary of Rs 1.25 lakh per month.

Bajwa said most of these officers were non-Punjabis and were appointed on contract basis without following the mandatory requirement of Punjabi language proficiency. “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is the chairman of the PDC, while the vice-chairman is a non-Punjabi. Three other members are from other states,” he said. He said the AAP government had already spent Rs 7.70 crore from the state exchequer on the PDC last year. He alleged that the NGOs working with the commission were from outside Punjab, raising concerns of local talent and institutions being marginalised. The opposition leader accused Mann of allowing Arvind Kejriwal’s Delhi-based team to run a parallel government in Punjab. He said Mann had become a figurehead while Kejriwal was acting as “super CM”.