Punjab’s free chopper rides

Few states are as financially-stressed as Punjab. But its leaders for a decade have had no compunctions about milking it dry. An intrepid Right to Information activist has ferreted out details about helicopter rides at the state expense for anyone who could help the Badal family of Punjab to hold on to the reins of power. That is perhaps the reason why multi-billionaire babas and sundry BJP leaders, who are in alliance with the Badals-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, were invited for helicopter rides at the state expense. For good measure the free helicopter rides were also on offer for sundry relatives of the Badal clan that has emulated the Karunanidhis of Tamil Nadu and two Yadav families of Bihar and UP in inserting multiple family members in the country's political set-up.

It is a moot question why the Comptroller and Auditor General of India did not blow the whistle on this free loading instead of banking on an RTI petition to form the basis for its inquiries. By all accounts, the Badals’ sense of entitlement rocketed in the second term in power. The free rides also give a window to the stranglehold of VIP babas on the attention of the politicians. In the Punjab polls, politicians from all the three major formations made a beeline to assorted deras for fatvas in their favour.  But in this case the Badals were currying favour with the high-flying ones who seem to have the ear of every top-notch politician and businessman in the country bar a few exceptions.

The freebooting was made worse by ensuring the purpose for requisitioning helicopters was never mentioned in the records. CMs of much larger states have been hauled up in the past for lesser indiscretion with flying birds. Punjab figures among the most debt-stressed states after West Bengal, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. None of Parkash Singh Badal’s contemporary counterparts from these more poorly connected states have freely indulged in such flights of power and prerogative. It will be poetic justice if they are made to reimburse the public exchequer.