Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday accused the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre of adopting a policy of excessive centralisation of powers and being bent on ruining the country socially,politically and economically. Addressing a gathering here on the second day of his thanksgiving tour of Lambi his constituency Badal slammed the Centre of ignoring the welfare of people by formulating the policies autocratically without consulting the state governments. He said the tendency of the Centre to usurp the powers of state governments was very dangerous as it not only violated the fundamental principles of democracy but also develops a feeling of alienation among states. Advocating a better connect between the Centre and the state government before the formulation of a national-level policy,the chief minister said the Centre must take advice from state governments so that good policies for betterment of people could be drafted and implemented properly. At present,the Union government is not taking any advice from the state governments. Because of this sheer chaos is prevailing in the country, alleged Badal. He added that while Congress had came to power in the name of aam aadmi,it was doling out largesse to big oil companies by deliberately hiking fuel prices exorbitantly in the last few years for their,much to the dismay of common man. Badal also claimed that the Centre was far more concerned about the interests of big industrial houses and least bothered to mitigate the woes of farmers of the state who had played a vital role in making the country self sufficient in food production. Accusing the UPA government of never bothering to give remunerative prices of crops to farmers,Badal said: The massive hike in agricultural inputs during the current regime of UPA government has increased the agonies of the farming community as it was on the brink of economic disaster. The only way to come out of the current mess was to promote diversification of agriculture along with co-operative farming in the state,he added.
