Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday impressed upon the state Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa to incorporate pro-poor proposals in the annual budget 2014-15 with a special thrust on the core sectors of health, education and social security.
Badal, during an interaction with Dhindsa after laying foundation stone of ‘Vit-te-Yojana Bhawan’ at Sector 33-A, said that budgetary proposals should be aimed at ameliorating lot of poor and disadvantaged sections of society to provide them basic civic amenities of potable drinking water and sewerage besides healthcare facilities at affordable rates.
Dhindsa said that budget proposals should be rural growth oriented as it was the need of the hour to bridge gulf between rural and urban populace, as far as the basic facilities were concerned. “A balanced growth could only be achieved by adopting an approach of inclusive development,” said Badal.
Chief Minister lamented that this crucial aspect to transform lives of masses had been unfortunately ignored by successive union and well as state Governments.
“The need to evolve a development model based on welfare of poor people especially economically weaker ones, otherwise lopsided development arising out of economic disparities between haves and have not's would not ever resolve this crux issue,” said Badal.
Badal categorically said: “We can wait for infrastructure projects to come up on ground but can't afford to have delay in the implementation of welfare schemes meant for the common man.”
Principal Secretary Finance Vinni Mahajan informed the Chief Minister that upcoming building would house all offices of finance and planning departments scattered in Chandigarh and Mohali, under one roof to facilitate state government to have better coordination on one hand and benefitting people coming from far off places of the state to get their works done in a hassle-free manner, on the other.