DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh on Monday revoked the suspension of 10 Shiromani Akali Dal legislators who were suspended for disrupting the proceedings of the House on Friday. The speaker made this announcement after Akali MLA Lakhbir Singh Lodhinangal raised the issue of suspension when Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal was about to present his budget proposals for 2021-22 in the state assembly. Leader of Opposition and Aam Aadmi Party legislator Harpal Singh Cheema also urged the speaker to revoke the suspension of Akali legislators, to which Rana K P Singh said he would consider their requests. After Badal completed his budget speech, the speaker announced the revocation of suspension of Akali legislators and also said they could take part in the discussion on the budget starting on Tuesday. Ten legislators of the Shiromani Akali Dal were suspended for the rest of the budget session of the Punjab Assembly for disrupting twice the address of Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on governor's speech on Friday. Among those suspended were Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Bikram Singh Majithia and Pawan Kumar Tinu. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislators today broke police barriers, braved water cannons and courted arrest to protest against the Congress government for betraying Punjabis and keeping the real opposition out of the Vidhan Sabha on the budget presentation day. The protest by SAD legislators witnessed the mlas marching towards the State assembly shouting slogans of 'Manpreet, Captain Murdabad' and 'Kisana da Katil Manpreet Murdabad' before they were stopped by the police and prevented from going ahead. The legislators however broke the police barriers and marched ahead unmindful of the water cannons unleashed on them. They later courted arrest and were taken to the sector three police station where too they held a 'dharna' against the Congress government. Talking to newsmen, senior leaders including legislative party leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Bikram Singh Majithia said it was shameful that the Congress government had kept the real opposition out of the Vidhan Sabha deliberately on the day it aimed to befool Punjabis again with false promises. The leaders said it was clear that the Congress government only wanted a pliant opposition in the assembly and had suspended SAD legislators because it did not want to listen to the truth. Stating that the budget had already been exposed by the CAG report, Mr Bikram Majithia said the report had already made it clear that the Congress government had halved expenditure on social welfare. He said the budget presentation was nothing but a desperate attempt by the government to cash in on cheap publicity for one day. "The government has no moral right to face the people after failing to release the budget allocations for various schemes including those for farmers, Dalits and youth for the last several years. Making false promises and then reneging on them has become a habit for this government", he added. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday asked Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to disclose one landmark achievement of his four-year tenure, saying people were fed up with the Congress and his government. Instead of working for the welfare of the people, Congressmen presided over the loot of state resources, be it by illegal quarrying of sand, liquor smuggling or embezzlement of NREGA funds, the SAD president said, addressing the 'Punjab Mangda Hisab dharnas'. "Once the SAD forms the government in the state, we will hold an inquiry into all these illegal acts, particularly the loot of NREGA funds," he said. Badal claimed Congress legislators had established cement tile factories and forced village sarpanches to purchase tiles from them at inflated rates. "We will ensure all those guilty of such frauds are given their due punishment," he added.Sukhbir Badal also came down heavily on the Congress government for "shedding crocodile tears" over the high rates of petroleum products. He said if the Centre was levying 31 per cent tax on petro products, the Punjab government was levying 27 per cent tax. "The Congress government should reduce its VAT quotient to give relief to farmers and the common man," Badal said. He said the Punjab government increased power tariffs by about 15 times during the last four years, making power rates in the state among the highest in the country. "These should be reduced immediately," he said. Rejecting the Congress government's stand that power purchase agreements with private thermal plants were responsible for the high tariffs, Badal said the state was getting power at Rs 2.80 per unit but was selling it at Rs 10 per unit. He announced that once the SAD formed the government in the state, it would half power tariffs for domestic (editor@dailyworld.in)