CHANDIGARH: Slamming the fourth budget presented by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime in Punjab, the opposition Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as farmer leaders accused the government of neglecting critical issues and failing to deliver on key promises, especially the monthly allowance for women.
Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa termed the budget a plethora of lies and deceitfulness. "It has been an extremely disappointing budget. Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema has disregarded all the sections of the state including women, farmers, service class, students and the business community," said Bajwa.
Bajwa said that Punjab has been the second-most debt-ridden state in the country under three years of the AAP regime. In the upcoming Financial Year (2025-26), the AAP government will raise a loan of Rs 49,900 crore. Consequently, the state’s outstanding debt will be Rs 3.96 lakh crore by the end of the next FY. When the AAP got hold of power in March 2022, the outstanding debt in Punjab was Rs 2.73 lakh crore. Is this what FM Cheema was boasting about, he asked.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said that the Budget 2025 presented by the AAP government had neither any substance nor any vision. "This is a one of the most defeatist budgets any government can prepare and present as the AAP appears to have reconciled to its imminent defeat and exit, hence has decided not to provide any relief to the people of Punjab," Warring said, while remarking, “it appears to be a preemptive revenge on Punjabis.”
He asked the government what happened to the “repeated promise” of Rs 1000 monthly cash assistance to the women of the state. The government should at least have been sincere towards women and started providing the monthly cash assistance to them, he added.
Warring also referred to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), which the government had notified earlier but has not implemented so far.
Describing the drug addict census as a mere gimmick, he said it is a cruel joke on them. “Do you want to parade them and humiliate them?” he asked, while pointing out that the health department already has a record of drug addicts in the state.
Former deputy chief minister and senior SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal said the AAP and CM 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," he said.
Reacting to the state budget presented in the assembly, 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."
Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries, Ravneet Singh Bittu likened the budget to the proverb “empty vessels make the loudest noise”, saying the AAP government had failed to fulfill its promises.
"The AAP government has utterly failed to deliver on its flagship promise of Rs 1,000 per month for women in Punjab. It has added around Rs 1 lakh crore to the state's debt -- a sum nearly equal to the Rs 3 lakh crore accumulated over the previous 30 years. With rising crime and drug trafficking, the budget offers no concrete measures to address law and order issues,” Bittu said.
Prem Singh Bhangu, President All India Kisan Federation and senior SKM leader, dubbed the Punjab government budget completely directionless, anti-farmer and anti-people, saying it did not suggest any clear road map to resolve the agricultural crisis in the state and the continuously mounting debt. "Only Rs 14,500 crore kept for agriculture is a meagre amount as the state economy is predominantly dependent on agriculture. The budget is silent regarding providing MSP to crops other than wheat and paddy like basmati, oilseeds, moong, potatoes, matar, gobi etc in order to boost diversification. There is no provision for debt relief though farmers are reeling under heavy debt and dying by suicide," he said.
