Jalandhar, September 2
Leaders of the Majha and Doaba regions are agitated for Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has planned to set up all thermal plants in the Malwa region.
The thermal plant, for which the foundation stone was laid today at Banawala village, near Talwandi Sabo, is the fourth one coming up in the Malwa region and the third in the Bathinda region.
A thermal plant is already functioning in Bathinda city and another at Lehra Mohabbat, about 25 km from Bathinda. The third one is functioning at Ropar, a town that is also part of the Malwa region. The fourth plant is to be set up at Nalash village, on the outskirts of Rajpura (Patiala), again in the Malwa region. The process is on to set up yet another thermal plant at Gidderbaha, about 30 km from Bathinda.
A thermal plant is to be set up at Goindwal, at a short distance from Tarn Taran, in the Majha region. The project has been allotted to a private company.
Questioning Badal’s plan to set up so many thermal plants in the Malwa region, Umrao Singh, former minister, said the SAD-BJP government should look beyond the Bathinda region, the home turf of the Badals, while allotting projects aimed at development of the respective areas. He said there should be a balanced development of all regions. A weak political leadership of Majha and Doaba was also responsible for their neglect on the development front. There was not a single eminent Akali leader who could confront Badal on this issue, he added.
Most of the MLAs in the present SAD-BJP government are from the Majha and Doaba regions.
But, most of them were not politically heavyweights and unable to lobby hard to push the case of development in the two regions, said Umrao Singh. He said there was a lot of scope for setting up thermal plants in the Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran areas as sufficient water was available in those areas. Moreover, as the industrial corridor is to be extended up to Ludhiana, the flow of rail traffic would be smoother on this railway section than on the Delhi-Bathinda and Delhi-Patiala sections.
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said: “Badal is discriminating with Majha and Doaba regions by denying it important projects”.
