India News | Punjab Budget Has Nothing to Offer to Any Section of Society: Opposition
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Opposition parties Wednesday rejected the state budget, claiming it had nothing to offer to any section of society and also targeted the AAP government for not fulfilling its pre-poll promise of giving Rs 1,000 to women.
Chandigarh, Mar 6 (PTI) Opposition parties Wednesday rejected the state budget, claiming it had nothing to offer to any section of society and also targeted the AAP government for not fulfilling its pre-poll promise of giving Rs 1,000 to women.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday presented the state budget for 2024-25 with a total outlay of Rs 2.04 lakh crore.
Participating in a discussion on the budget proposals, opposition leaders also slammed the Bhagwant Mann government for not implementing the Old Pension Scheme despite promising it.
Congress member and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa slammed the Bhagwant Mann government over the issues of "rising" debt and said it has borrowed Rs 68,000 crore in the past two years.
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The way the AAP government is borrowing, the state's outstanding debt will further swell, he said.
He asserted the state government does not have funds for development works as 57 percent of state's revenue is spent on salaries and pensions, 23 percent on interest and 25 percent on electricity subsidy.
On the agriculture issue, Bajwa said the state budget did not find any mention about minimum support price for crops and said before coming to power, the AAP leaders had claimed that they would give the assured price to farmers.
He took on the state government over the issue of the OPS for government employees, saying despite the state government having issued a notification on the OPS, it has not been implemented yet.
Eight percent dearness allowance of government employees is also pending, he said.
The Leader of Opposition pointed out that the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh has already implemented the OPS.
Taking on the state government over the pre-poll promise of giving Rs 1,000 to women, Bajwa asked the treasury benches why this has not been implemented yet.
During discussion on the budget, Bajwa sought department-wise details of newly recruited over 40,000 government employees.
On the state government's claim of nine percent growth in the state GDP, Bajwa claimed the agriculture and industry sectors were stagnating and the industry was shifting to other states.
He also sought details on investment received in the past two years.
Bajwa accused the state government of not utilising the funds for central sponsored schemes.
"Out of Rs 11,000 crore funds meant for Central schemes, the Punjab government could not utilise Rs 7,000 crore," claimed Bajwa.
"We reject the budget and there is nothing in this budget for any section of society -- women and elders and farmers and youth. It is a failed budget you betrayed Punjab," Bajwa told the FM.
Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali also questioned the AAP government over the issue of not implementing the pre-poll promise of Rs 1,000 to women despite its claims that the state's revenue was growing and there was no shortage of funds.
"Women supported the AAP in the state assembly elections. But now two years have passed, and women did not get what was promised. It is injustice with them," said Ayali.
BJP MLA Ashwani Sharma asked FM Cheema about revenue generation to meet the budget size of Rs 2.04 lakh crore. "From where will the revenue come?"
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)