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Punjab Assembly: Opposition MLAs call state budget 'directionless' |
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| 28-3-2025 | |||
Chandigarh, Mar 27 (PTI) The opposition parties on Thursday dubbed the state budget presented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema as "directionless and aimless" and targeted the AAP government for not keeping their poll promise of giving Rs 1,000 per month to women. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday announced a Rs 10 lakh health insurance cover for all families, steps to tackle the drug menace and a 'Rangla Punjab Vikas scheme' for holistic development in the Rs 2.36-lakh-crore state budget for 2025-26 presented in the Assembly. Participating in the discussion on the budget estimates for 2025-26, Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali took on the Bhagwant Mann government for not fulfilling one of the key promises of giving Rs 1,000 per month to women. "People of Punjab have been betrayed," alleged Ayali and asked the state government when it would start giving Rs 1,000 to women. "By next year, the AAP government would owe Rs 48,000 to each woman," he said while lamenting that nothing was earmarked in the budget for fulfilling this promise. He also said that there was "nothing" in the budget for the farming sector. On the crop diversification front, Ayali said the government should have announced some incentive for promoting basmati, sugarcane, maize and horticulture crops. Dakha MLA Ayali lashed out at the AAP government for the recent police crackdown against farmers for evicting them from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points. On the industrial sector, Ayali said no funds have been allocated in the budget for focal points to promote industries. Congress MLA Avtar Singh Junior called the budget "aimless and directionless". He targeted the AAP government over borrowings and fiscal and revenue deficits. He said that the state's debt to gross state domestic product ratio was around 44.50 per cent as compared to 37 per cent in Bihar, and 30 per cent each in Jharkhand and Haryana. BJP MLA Ashwani Kumar too criticised the AAP government for not fulfilling its promise of Rs 1,000 to women. He asked the AAP government where Rs 20,000 crore has gone, which its party supremo had claimed to mobilize from the sand mining sector. Earlier, former Haryana chief minister and Congress Bhupinder Singh Hooda, MLAs B B Batra and Aftab Ahmed witnessed the proceedings of the Punjab Assembly. PTI CHS HIG HIG Source: PTI |
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