Haryana Debt Concerns: Opposition MLAs Criticize Budget

Chandigarh, Mar 20 (PTI) Opposition Congress and INLD MLAs in Haryana on Thursday expressed concern over the mounting debt as they also raised issues related to health, education and drug menace in the State Assembly.

Participating in the discussion on the state budget in the State Assembly, Congress MLA from Kaithal, Aditya Surjewala said while the budget talks about making the state future-capable, in reality it lacks vision.

He claimed there were a few proposals in the budget like the one to set up a flower market in Gurugram which were "recycled schemes" announced earlier.

The construction of an international-level Aravalli Jungle Safari on 10,000 acres of land in Gurugram and Nuh districts is also an old scheme, Surjewala said.

Surjewala and many other Congress members expressed deep concern over mounting debt.

"The state is under deep debt. In 2014-15, the debt stood at Rs 60,293 crore which rose to Rs 3.92 lakh crore now, a 600 per cent increase. On average there is an increase of Rs 73 crore debt every day which means Rs 3 crore debt every hour," he claimed.

Surjewala said on the one hand while the debt was increasing, the development on the ground was not visible. No new power plant, no irrigation project, state highway university or any high-tech centre has been set up by the BJP government, he claimed.

The BJP government cannot count the roads built by the NHAI as development undertaken by the state government, he said.

Surjewala said during the Congress regime Haryana became a power surplus state whereas the total installed capacity has come down during the BJP regime.

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday presented a Rs 2.05 lakh crore budget for 2025-26, making various announcements including earmarking Rs 5,000 crore for 'Lado Lakshmi Yojana' Surjewala said with the amount proposed in the budget only 20 lakh of the one crore women can get Rs 2,100 monthly assistance promised by the BJP.

Indian National Lok Dal MLA Arjun Singh Chautala also took on the government over "mounting debt". "No measures are being taken to address mounting debt," Chautala claimed.

Congress member Geeta Bhukkal contradicted claims of the BJP of regional bias in development when the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led regime was in power and said several development projects had come up in south Haryana too during her party-led government.

The BJP talks of double engine, triple engine, but in the areas where opposition MLAs represent then this engine "becomes trouble engine and no work is done".

Taking on the government in the education sector, she said the government should issue a white paper on how many school buildings they built. During her speech, Bhukkal said that like a medical college has been set up in Karnal named after late India-born NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the government should name an institute or start a scholarship named after NASA astronaut with Indian roots, Sunita Williams.

Congress MLA from Sadhaura in Yamunanagar, Renu Bala dubbed the budget as disappointing. She also said there is a shortage of doctors in hospitals and teachers in schools and the government must address the issue.

Drug menace has spread tentacles and even young children are falling prey. Illegal mining is rampant, she alleged.

Meanwhile, the BJP MLAs, who participated in the budget discussion, praised the budget hailing it as balanced which will take the state further on the path of development.

BJP MLA from Badkhal in Faridabad, Dhanesh Adlakha while praising the budget, said it will open new vistas of development. He praised the initiative to empower gig workers and ensure their social security coverage and said a scheme for them had been proposed in the budget.

BJP MLA from the Badhra segment, Umed Singh hailed the initiative to build a 'Mahila Chaupal' in every village. Chief Minister Saini, in his budget speech, had said in the first phase, that 754 villages have been identified for this project.

Umed Singh said Haryana today has a well-developed road network. Earlier, it used to take seven hours to travel from Charkhi Dadri to Chandigarh, but now the travel time has now been reduced to half, he said.

BJP legislator from Pundri, Satpal Jamba said the budget is balanced and realistic. Another BJP MLA Kanwar Singh termed the budget "historic and development-oriented".

He said during Congress' time development used to be concentrated in the Rohtak-Jhajjar region whereas under BJP equitable development has been undertaken from Kalanwali to Faridabad and from Rohtak to Kalka, as a result of which people have voted BJP back to power for the third time in a row.