With Punjab slipping to 20th position in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday accused the Amarinder Singh government of derailing the good work done by the previous SAD-BJP government.

In a statement here, the SAD president said Punjab had been ranked number twenty in the latest World Bank report on Ease of Doing Business.

He said in direct contrast the state was ranked number one in ease of setting up business in 2015 and number one in single window reform in 2016 when the SAD-BJP was in power.

“It is clear now that the SAD-BJP government took Punjab to the number one position after coming out with a new industrial policy in 2013 while you (Amarinder) devoted one and half years to bring it twenty notches down. What could be worse?,” Badal said.

He said the Congress government was behaving like an enemy of Punjabis by destroying its own state as the Invest Punjab department which resulted in creation of a one stop clearance system and boosted investment has been virtually demolished.

“The Reforms Commission has been scrapped. Citizen-centric services initiated through 12,000 Sewa Kendra which removed the need to go to government offices have been closed down. It is because of all this that the Chief Minister suffered the disgrace of being asked to wake up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the SAD president told CM Amarinder.

Castigating the Congress government for downgrading Punjab from a leader state in the World Bank report during SAD-BJP tenure to a backward one now, Badal said it was a matter of record that Punjab’s model of genuine single window clearance and establishment of Invest Punjab department to facilitate investors was replicated by Haryana, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh , Andhra Pradesh and even the Union Industry Policy department.

“Today a state like Haryana which followed our lead and our processes has climbed to number three in Ease of Doing Business. States like Jharkhand and Bihar who used to look at Punjab as a model state have beaten it with rankings of fourth and eighteenth respectively,” Badal said.

He said it was unfortunate that Amarinder’s myopic vision had derailed the Punjab growth story which had resulted in record investment of Rs 45,000 Crore during SAD-BJP tenure despite constraints of being surrounded by tax incentivised states.