Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, alleging that it has failed to pay over Rs 14,000 crore in arrears owed to state government pensioners and employees despite a cabinet decision in February 2025 approving the payout.
“The AAP government took a formal cabinet decision to clear these dues, yet thousands of pensioners and retired government servants continue to wait for their rightful money,” Badal said in a statement. “This is a betrayal of Punjab’s workforce.”
“On one hand, the government pleads poverty before employees. On the other, it has Rs 4,400 crore to paste Bhagwant Mann’s picture across the country.”
— Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD President
Badal further alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government has been funding Arvind Kejriwal’s travel across India on chartered planes using state resources, even as legitimate employee dues remain unpaid. He called the pattern a deliberate misuse of public funds to serve the AAP’s political agenda.
High Court intervenes, sets April 30 deadline
Badal welcomed the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s intervention in the matter, which has fixed April 30 as the deadline for the state government to clear all pending dues to pensioners and government employees. He described the court’s move as a necessary check on what he called the government’s “brazen financial mismanagement.”
“I welcome the Hon’ble High Court’s decision to step in. The judiciary has had to do what the elected government refused to do,” he said
Probe demanded into Rs 12,500 crore disaster relief diversion
The SAD president simultaneously demanded an impartial probe into the alleged misuse of state funds by the AAP government. He recalled that Rs 12,500 crore earmarked for disaster relief was earlier alleged to have been misused, and warned that a similar pattern now appeared to be playing out with funds meant for government employees.
“The AAP government seems to have spent money meant for its employees on party agendas. This is not just a financial scandal — it is a moral failure,” Badal said, demanding that an independent inquiry be constituted to probe the full extent of the diversions.