CHANDIGARH: The public debt of fund-starved Punjab Government is expected to reach Rs 3.53 lakh crore by March his year. This being the case, the state would raise Rs 6,628 crore loan in addition to the loans worth Rs 23,836.30 crore availed between April-November 2024 to meet the revenue and expenditure gap.Ahead of the state budget to be tabled next month, the government in its pre-budget meetings is contemplating as to how to arrange funds to fulfill its promise of providing Rs 1,000 per woman which it made during the 2022 assembly elections.”The discussions are going on and data of income tax payee women and women voters is being collected. If at all this scheme is implemented it is likely to be extended to non-income tax paying women,’’ claimed a senior government functionary.Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has recently told the media that the monthly allowance of Rs 1000 per will be given to the women in the next budget (2025-26).Meanwhile, sources point out that a major portion of the government borrowings goes towards debt servicing (payment of principal and interest) and meeting other expenses. It is understood that 22.9 per cent of the revenue is spent towards debt servicing while 25.14 percent goes towards paying power subsidy bill.After spending 57.5 per cent of the total income on paying salaries to employees, only 3.22 per cent is left with the government to spend on infrastructure and social security schemes.The revenue receipts are Rs 59,793.1 crore, while the revenue expenditure is Rs 83,642.9 crore thus the revenue deficit is Rs 20,081.61 crore. The government has improved revenue collection in GST and excise. But the projected revenue from the sand mining this financial year is Rs 300 crore as against the Rs 247 crore earnings in 2022-’23.
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