By PTI
CHANDIGARH: Opposition parties in Punjab on Monday called the AAP-led government’s maiden budget a “bunch of lies” and claimed it “disappointed” every section of the society.
Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday presented the state budget for 2022-23, providing 300 units of free electricity to households from July 1, setting up of 117 Mohalla Clinics and upgrading 100 schools as ‘schools of eminence’ in the state among other proposals.
Reacting to the budget, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring dismissed it as a “bunch of lies” that lacks both content and quality, and is a betrayal of the people of the state.
“Budget is not just a financial statement, but also a means to set the course for future progress and was the best chance for the government to show what ‘badlaav’ (change) it envisioned for the state and it has miserably failed on that,” he said.
“Not a single promise that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made before the elections has been touched in the budget,” he said, adding that there was no mention of providing Rs 1,000 per month to all women, leaving them ‘cheated and betrayed’.
He further said there is no clarity about the “300 units of free power”.
Other than the token announcement, the finance minister did not elaborate as to from where the government will get the money as there is no budgetary allocation made for the scheme, he said.
“Normally, the first budget of the government lays out the roadmap for next five years for the government, but this budget contains nothing like that; neither a roadmap, nor any vision nor any direction,” he added.
Warring also alleged that the budget in no way spells out how the state will cover the massive revenue gap.
“Now they must have realised that the government does not run on rhetoric,” he said while questioning how AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann could claim that they would generate tens of thousands of crore from sand mining, which according to them, was pocketed by the corrupt.
He said several schemes like modernisation of bus stands were old ones and initiated by the previous Congress government.
“It is like old wine in new bottles,” he added.
Taking on the AAP government over the poll promise of Rs 1,000 to each woman per month, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said, “The government of Punjab has made no announcement regarding the Rs 1,000 per month to every woman above 18 years.”
“This promise I fear will not be seen till the last six months of the AAP government in 2027. This is a serious breach of trust committed by the government of Punjab. It clearly shows that their big promises are untenable under proper scrutiny,” he said in a statement.
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said after facing a humiliating defeat in the Sangrur Lok Sabha by-election, the AAP has presented a budget which has made a “mockery” of the common man in Punjab.
“Instead of addressing the economic crisis that Punjab has been facing for so long, the AAP government budget is only fudging the figures to build up a rosy picture. It is intriguing that the budget is silent on electoral promises like giving Rs 1,000 each to women, among others, and is making a rigmarole statement,” he said.
The budget has disappointed all sections of the society be it traders, farmers or the service class, claimed Chugh in a statement.
“There is no word on how the mafias in the state would be checked and how corruption will be fought after AAP’s own health minister was sacked following corruption charges,” he added.
