Bajwa flags corruption, cites letter by PSEB association

The Opposition Congress and the Treasury benches today traded barbs on the issue of corruption in the government and administration, each trying to prove that the other was “tainted”.

It all began during Zero Hour of the Vidhan Sabha when Leader of Opposition Partap Bajwa took the government head on, seeking its response to the corruption charges levelled by the PSEB Engineers' Association. The association had earlier this month written to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, accusing some political figures of misusing their position to interfere in the working of the power corporations and demanding money for “party funds”.

The association had alleged that one of their officers had been coerced to seek Rs 50,000 as party funds, and he was later trapped by the Vigilance Bureau on the charges of corruption. “We need to find out who was behind it,” said Bajwa.

He also raised the issue of an inquiry sought by the former Chief Secretary against 48 officials of the Revenue Department, claiming that the extent of graft in the department alone was close to Rs 1,000 crore per month. Bajwa also raised the issue of widespread corruption in the Excise Department.

“I suggest that you make a Vidhan Sabha committee to investigate the matter as it is very serious. After all, your party has been claiming zero tolerance to corruption,” he said.

Reacting sharply, Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO denied the allegations and deflected the issue by claiming there were 39 associations of PSEB employees. “You must clarify on whose behalf the funds were sought,” he said. Senior AAP leaders — party president Aman Arora and Finance Minister Harpal Cheema — were quick to come to his rescue. Cheema said the association never gave its statement to the Vigilance Bureau, which was still investigating the matter.

As Bajwa and other Congress MLAs rose from their seats to make their point, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan urged Bajwa to listen to what the Power Minister had to say. Bajwa reiterated his demand for a House committee probe into the charges.

It was then that Arora joined the debate and said he was aware of the letter written by the association, but said no name of any party was given in it. He cited examples to reiterate Harbhajan Singh was an honest and upright man, while claiming that as his colleague and party president, it was his duty to defend the minister.

“The Vigilance inquiry is going on... and I hope you will be satisfied with its report. At the same time, I want to show you a report published in The Tribune today, where former ED officer Niranjan Singh has claimed that one minister and 10 MLAs of the then Congress government were involved in the hooch tragedy of 2020 at Tarn Taran,” he said.