Punjab Budget 2024-25: Opposition Slams 'Disappointing' & 'Visionless' Budget

Chandigarh, Mar 5 (PTI) Opposition parties in Punjab Tuesday dubbed the stare's 2024-25 Budget as "disappointing" and "visionless", accusing the Bhagwant Mann government of failing to fulfil the ruling AAP's poll promise of giving women Rs 1,000 per month.

Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa termed the third budget of the Aam Aadmi Party-led state government "disappointing" and "unconvincing".

Bajwa said that 23 per cent of the total receipts would go towards interest on debts and 57.6 per cent would be spent on salaries and pensions.

Similarly, 25.14 per cent will go towards power subsidies, leaving the Punjab government with three per cent to execute other tasks, the Congress leader said.

"Punjab's Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema once again remains unsuccessful in fulfilling its pre-poll promises. The budget also disappointed the distressed farming sector," Bajwa claimed.

He said that even two years into its tenure, the AAP government has not fulfilled its "much-hyped promise to provide Rs 1,000 per month incentive to women above the age of 18 years".

"One of the main promises of the AAP government was to minimise the debt burden on Punjab. Instead, the debt burden has multiplied in the years under AAP. It took a Rs 60,000 crore loan by the end of January 2024. Besides this, in February and March, AAP took a Rs 7,000 crore loan," Bajwa added.

The opposition leader said farmers were also unsatisfied with the budget. The government earmarked only Rs 575 crore for crop diversification, far less than what was expected, he said.

Slamming the budget "as yet another stab in the back of our farming community", Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar claimed that it has once again failed to address the concerns of farmers on the much-needed issue of crop diversification, groundwater conservation and income support.

"It is the third year and it is evident that this government has no solution for farmers, and neither did this government have the gumption to fulfil what Bhagwant Mann had promised to farmers while seeking their votes," Jakhar said.

The BJP leader said the chief minister should come clean on his promise to give MSP to farmers.

Coming down heavily on the AAP government for allegedly pushing Punjab towards a financial calamity, Jakhar said a budget of over Rs 2 lakh crore "with an overall debt inching towards Rs 4 lakh crore tells you of the kind of future this government has envisioned for Punjabis".

"There is no roadmap for any sector... it is just a concoction of lies, hollow promises and propaganda in the name of 'historic' development, a pet word of this regime to hide their colossal failures on every front," he said.

BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill termed the Punjab budget "visionless", "hollow" and a "betrayal" with the Punjabis.

Shergill said no steps have been taken in the budget to revive the state's economy "that was put in reverse gear" by the AAP government.

"Today's budget has shattered all hopes of different sectors of the state," he claimed.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government perpetrated fraud on Punjabis by refusing to honour commitments made to different segments of society, "besides discriminating against farmers, youth and trade and industry in the 2024-25 state Budget".

Badal said there was no mention or allocation for the Rs 1,000 per month allowance promised to women which was to start immediately upon the formation of the AAP government two years back.

"This amounts to a backlog of Rs 24,000 per woman till now... Similarly, the government has run away from allocating any money for implementing the Old Pension Scheme despite having notified the same one year back," he said.

"Equally shocking was that the AAP government had only earmarked Rs 130 crore to provide assistance to farmers during natural calamities," the SAD president said.

"Similarly the government played a joke with the industrial sector by reserving only Rs 50 crore for incentives to new industries," he added.

Cheema presented the state's budget for the financial year 2024-25, envisaging a total outlay of over Rs 2 lakh crore.