Chandigarh: Terming the Punjab Budget presented by the Finance Minister Harpal Cheema in the State Assembly today as “disappointing”, “disheartening” and “disillusioning”, National Spokesperson of BJP Jaiveer Shergill has strongly condemned the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government.
While pointing out that the budget is not showing any new avenues of revenue, Shergill, in his Budget reaction said, “Immediate steps were required to address the problem of ever worsening financial crisis in the state but unfortunately the budget lacks any concrete roadmap for reviving the dwindling state economy.”
Shergill further said that there is no strategy in the Budget to make the state debt free, which is a cause of immense worry, while adding, “A thorough perusal of the budget shows that this budget actually puts Punjab in a reverse gear with Bhagwant Mann sleeping on the steering wheel.”
BJP Spokesperson said that people of Punjab, particularly women, are extremely disappointed with the Budget. Shergill pointed out that non-allocation of funds for giving Rs 1,000 per month to eligible 1.3 crore women, who have attained the age of 18 years in the second consecutive budget speaks volumes of false promises made by AAP before coming to power in Punjab.
“Pertaining to the agricultural sector, no announcement has been made with respect to Minimum Support Price (MSP) for some crops like potato, tomato and cauliflower”, Shergill said. Coming down heavily on the government for completely ignoring the industry, he said that one of the main poll promises made by the AAP government of providing electricity at the rate of Rs 5 per unit to Punjab industry has again not been fulfilled in this budget. “Only hollow announcements have been made with respect to the industry”, he added.
Further lambasting the AAP government, the BJP leader said that Punjab has been “betrayed and backstabbed” by the AAP Government and all sections of the society including farmers, industry, women, youth have been let down by the AAP Government. “The announcements made in today’s budget for various sectors are meaningless and mere eyewash in wake of the fact that the AAP Government has miserably failed to fulfill the tall promises made in the previous budget”, Shergill concluded.