Amarinder blames China’s coronavirus crisis for not fulfilling 2017 free-smartphone promise
Politics

Amarinder blames China’s coronavirus crisis for not fulfilling 2017 free-smartphone promise

Free smartphones for the youth was a key poll promise of the Punjab Congress in 2017. Opposition calls the CM's 'coronavirus excuse' a joke.

   
File image of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh | Photo: ANI

File photo of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh | ANI

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said in the assembly Wednesday his government has not been able to fulfill its promise of distributing smartphones to the youth because of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

The CM’s remarks drew sharp criticism from the Opposition, which said this was just another excuse being used by the ruling Congress to delay the implementation of its key poll promise of 2017.

In its 2017 manifesto, the Congress had promised to distribute free mobile handsets to the youth to “encourage and incentivise them to use digital technology in day-to-day lives”. The manifesto was released by former PM Manmohan Singh in January 2017.

Amarinder said the first set of smartphones has already been ordered from China, but it had to unfortunately delay the release of the order due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Punjab chief minister said this while giving his concluding remarks over the discussion on the Governor’s speech during the ongoing budget session in the House. 

“The procurement of the phones had only been delayed due to the health emergency that had led to a shutdown in China, as a result of which the consignment of phones has not been received,” he said.

Rs 10 crore kept aside for scheme

Following up on its poll promise, the Amarinder Singh government, in the 2017-18 Punjab Budget, had announced the ‘Mobile Phones to the Youth’ scheme and kept aside Rs 10 crore to be used in the first year for the scheme.

However, even after three years, the scheme hasn’t been implemented.

In September 2019, the Punjab Cabinet had decided that the process of distribution of mobile phones should be accelerated and also approved the various modalities for the choice of the vendor and the bidding process. 

The chief minister had then told his cabinet that the vendor who would implement the scheme would be selected in a transparent manner by the Punjab Information Technology Corporation Limited, a government agency.

It was also decided that the first set of mobile phones would be distributed from December 2019 to girl students studying in Class XI and XII in government schools, who do not already own a smartphone. 


Also read: Amarinder Singh faces rebellion from Punjab cabinet colleagues ahead of budget session


Republic Day promise

On 2 December 2019, the chief minister had tweeted that the first set of mobile phones would be distributed on Republic Day.

“This 26th Jan, when we celebrate the Republic Day, we will start the 1st Phase of the smartphone distribution. 1st batch of 1.6 lakh smartphones will be given to girl students of Class 11 & 12. Hoping that these phones will help them in their studies & make them more tech-savvy,” said the CM’s tweet.

However, no mobile phones were distributed on Republic Day.

Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla had then told the media that the scheme would be rolled out by 31 March 2020.

He said the mobile phones were being tested, and it was taking time.  

It’s a joke, says Opposition

The Opposition called the Punjab CM’s coronavirus “excuse” behind the delay in implementation of the scheme a “joke”.

“Whatever the chief minister has said on the floor of the House sounded like a joke. This was a promise that was made to the people of Punjab before Captain Amarinder came to power. Now, almost three years into the government, the chief minister is using the coronavirus as an excuse to explain the delay in fulfilling a pre-poll promise,” senior Akali MLA and former revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia told mediapersons after the  proceedings in the assembly got over.

“If this is the seriousness being shown by the CM towards a promise that doesn’t cost much to the government, one can imagine his attitude regarding the other promises made by the Congress before elections,” Majithia added.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Aman Arora said the chief Minister has made his party a laughing stock.

“When one travels to villages in Punjab, we are told by our supporters that we should question the government about the promised mobile phones,” said Arora.

“This was one promise that the youth of Punjab was looking forward to the most. And here is the chief Minister trying to tell the people of the state that they have not been able to fulfill this promise for three years because of the coronavirus? This promise should have been fulfilled 2 years ago. There was no virus in China then,” he added.


Also read: Amarinder Singh’s first year in power: The good, the bad, the ugly