The North News
Chandigarh, March 9
Opposition parties on Sunday slammed the AAP government over Punjab budget, saying it “completely ignored” the urgent need to revive the “struggling economy”, with the Congress calling the announcement of a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 for women “too little, too late”.
Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa strongly criticised the budget presented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, saying that it is nothing more than a “bundle of grand announcements aimed at creating headlines while completely ignoring the urgent need to revive Punjab’s struggling economy.”
Congress leader Bajwa, in a statement, said the budget once again “exposes” the AAP government’s lack of a clear economic vision to generate employment, revive industry, or improve the state’s financial health.
“The AAP government has perfected the art of making tall claims and grand announcements, but when it comes to presenting a concrete roadmap for economic revival and employment generation, the budget is completely hollow,” Bajwa said.
Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring described the state budget as the “wrap up of a series of lies that AAP has been doling out all these years”, while claiming that the state debt has mounted by about 160 per cent of the total budget.
Reacting to the announcement of Rs 1,000 monthly assistance for women, Warring remarked, “It is too little too late, literally”. If AAP was sincere in its promise, it would have announced the payment with the four-year arrears that amounts to Rs 48,000 for every woman, he said.
“They didn’t do it for four years and even when they announced it today, they have not spelt out the exact date from when women will get this much of little money. It is like a post-dated cheque with no guarantee of getting redeemed as AAP is left with a limited time,” Warring added.
Warring said there is no provision in the budget as to how to address the serious challenge that the “mounting debt” poses.
Reacting to the Punjab Budget, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said that it again proves that the AAP government has no concrete roadmap for Punjab’s development.
Chugh said that instead of addressing the aspirations of the people of Punjab, the budget has turned out to be nothing more than a document of “hollow announcements and political rhetoric”.
Chugh said that after the reality of this budget has come to light, it is necessary to remind AAP of the promises it made during the 2022 Assembly elections. He said at that time Arvind Kejriwal had aggressively promoted a 10-point ‘Punjab Model’, but four years later it stands completely exposed, and the budget has only highlighted this “failure”.
Taking strong exception to the government’s claim that all guarantees have been fulfilled, Bajwa pointed out that the most prominent promise made by AAP during the 2022 Assembly elections – Rs 1,000 per month for women — has been announced only now, after four years in power.
“If the government claims that all guarantees have been fulfilled, then why did Punjab’s women have to wait four long years for the Rs 1,000 scheme? This clearly shows that the announcement is politically timed rather than a result of responsible governance,” Bajwa said.
Bajwa also raised concern over the “alarming rise” in Punjab’s debt under the AAP government, claiming that the state’s debt had increased from around Rs 2.84 lakh crore when the AAP government came to power to nearly Rs 4.17 lakh crore.
Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar claimed that the budget presented by the AAP government would push the state into an “even deeper debt crisis.” He questioned where the money would come from to fund the promises made in the budget.
Jakhar said helping the poor and needy people is the government’s responsibility, but to ensure that this does not turn into another deception of the people before the 2027 assembly elections, the government must clearly explain where at least Rs 1,000 crore required every month for the scheme promising cash assistance to women will come from and how this funding will continue in the future.
He also questioned whether funds from other schemes would be reduced to distribute money to women for a few months before elections. He claimed the state’s debt, which the finance minister said would cross Rs 4.59 lakh crore, could reach Rs 5 lakh crore by the end of the next financial year.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal dubbed the budget “nothing but a pack of lies.”
The last budget of the AAP government has betrayed the farmers, youth, poor, trade and industry, government employees and even women on International Women’s Day, he said.
The AAP government has “defrauded” women on International Women’s Day by making it clear that it will not give a single rupee out of the Rs 48,000 due to each of them till now as part of the Rs 1,000 per month allowance promised to them.
