Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to act swiftly to bring back the black money stashed in foreign banks, as per the record available with his Ministry.
Addressing a rally after laying down the foundation stone of a high-level bridge over the Satluj river at a cost of Rs 102 crore, Mr Badal said the SAD-BJP government had been demanding the Congress-led UPA government to immediately bring back the ill gotten money hidden in the foreign banks so that it could be judiciously utilised for funding welfare schemes for millions of poor across the country.
The Chief Minister said their MLAs and MPs had been persuading the Central government time and again to retrieve the huge undisclosed amount kept abroad, but the latter had so far paid no heed to their demand. "If the Centre does not initiate any action in this regard promptly, our MPs will be forced to take up this matter in the forthcoming Winter session of Parliament to seek its intervention in the larger public interest'', he warned.
Listing achievements of the state government, Mr Badal sressed the need for continuity of the government for another term of five years in order to sustain the tempo of overall development on one hand and to accomplish the unfinished agenda on the other.He said the unprecedented development achieved by the SAD-BJP alliance during the present tenure was beyond comparison with during the period of Congress regime, spanning over four-and-a-half decades.