-Says only Rs 10, 000 crore earmarked for capital expenditure, means no money for development
-Punjab admitted its failure to eradicate drug menace by shifting the timeline by another 2 years
CHANDIGARH: Former deputy chief minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and chief minister Bhagwant Mann had betrayed Punjabis in the State budget 2025-26 by going back on all promises made to them and discriminated against farmers, women, youth, trade and business, government employees and weaker sections of society.
“The budget has no funds for capital expenditure with only Rs 10, 000 crore being allocated for this head even as the State debt will rise to Rs 4.17 lakh crore, with a debt of Rs 1.54 lakh crore being accumulated during the AAP tenure alone. This means there will be virtually no funds for development. It is all fluff and no substance”.
Reacting to the State budget presented in the assembly today, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal said “there is no mention of the promised Rs 1000 per month to women. There is nothing for the youth, including any unemployment allowance.The old age pension has not been increased to Rs 2, 500 as promised. No funds have been earmarked to fulfill the chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s personal commitment to procure all 22 crops on MSP on State expense. The government has not planned for increasing electricity generation and has failed to earmark any funds for any new thermal power plant. Even the much touted Malwa canal scheme announced by the chief minister, which was done without any consultation with the stakeholders, is proving to be a hoax with no funds being earmarked for the same. Government employees have also been backstabbed with no funds being earmarked to implement the OPS scheme whose notification has also been issued by the government”.
Asserting that the AAP government had played a cruel joke on Punjabis by shifting the timeline for eradication of drugs to the next two years, Mr Sukhbir Badal said “this is an admission of the government’s total failure to control this menace”. He said the chief minister and his boss Arvind Kejriwal had promised to eradicate drugs from the State in four weeks. “This timeline was then shifted to one year. Now it has been increased to another two years. This proves that the government does not have any intention to dismantle the AAP leaders – police nexus which has resulted in a sharp increase in the menace”.
Exposing the government’s announcements of providing world class health infrastructure, Mr Badal said “the AAP government announced it would establish 16 new Medical Colleges. Now it has announced in the budget that only one new Medical College would be established in the State in the next two years”. He said similarly the government had failed to allocate funds to fill half of the sanctioned posts in the Health department which were lying vacant.