Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on May 24 took to social media to inform about the dismissal of his health minister, Dr Vijay Singla on corruption charges. His five-minute address left nobody in doubt that his AAP government has a zero tolerance against corruption,. A report by Rajesh Moudgil
Punjab health minister Dr Vijay Singla was arrested on May 24 by the state’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) shortly after chief minister Bhagwant Mann sacked him from his Cabinet over corruption charges and handed over the case to the police.
Besides Singla, his officer on special duty (OSD) and nephew Pradeep Kumar was also arrested under Sections 7 and 8 of the prevention of corruption Act registered on the complaint of Rajinder Singh, superintending engineer (SE), Punjab Health Systems Corporation. The accused were later in the day produced before a Mohali court where they were sent to three-day police remand till May 27.
Conspicuously enough, Mann himself took to social media through his 5-minute video message to convey the information about the dismissal of Singla from his Cabinet on corruption charges after he was reportedly found seeking 1% cut in tenders allotment and purchase of goods related to the department on an audiotape.
Mann said in his video address that since he alone was in the know throughout the case, he could have covered it up if he wished so. However, he said, by hushing up the matter, he would have not only failed his own conscience but also betrayed lakhs of people who trusted him. Mann underlined his party’s resolve of giving an honest governance and zero-tolerance to corruption.
Mann went on say that it is for the second time in the history of the country that an action had been taken by a government against its own minister on corruption charges. He held that it was first time when Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who had sacked his own food and civil supplies minister in 2015 after a video of him seeking a bribe was shown to him. Reiterating that he would not tolerate the corruption of even Re 1, Mann recalled his government’s pledge at martyr Bhagat Singh’s village Khatkar Kalan to give a corruption-free governance.
Interestingly, Mann had also pre-empted criticism by the Opposition parties, hence he said he knew the opposition parties would say that AAP’s minister was found involved in corruption within two months of forming the government, but, he wanted to tell them that he had taken an action whereas the chief ministers of other parties had themselves said that that they knew their ministers were engaged in the mafia and yet they did not take any action against them.
