The Punjab Congress on Thursday lashed out on the ruling SAD-BJP combine over the State’s “precarious” fiscal position. Saying that nobody seems to be concerned, Congress Deputy leader in lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh questioned the sincerity of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in doling out liberal grants.
“...This Government now seems to have learnt the art of surviving in installments only,” he said, adding that the “financial emergency in Punjab does not appear to be too distant anymore”. Former Chief Minister questioned the Badal’s sincerity “in promising and doling out liberal grants in Dhuri Assembly segment in anticipation of the by-elections there when he knew there is no money available with the State”.
“I wonder how Badal has promised projects worth over Rs25 crore when he literally does not have a single penny in the State treasury,” he said. Congress leader Arvind Khanna had resigned as MlA from Dhuri constituency on January 18 and Badal has been holding his sangat darshan programmes.
Capt Amarinder said that there was a “recurring gap of Rs600 crore between revenue and expenditure” but there was no concern or attempt being made to bridge this gap. “Coupled with it is the depleting revenue from VAT and state taxes which is because of lack of much business activity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa challenged the claim made by the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal that the state was at the top in the country saying that the “official figures pointed to the opposite and he should have at least his finance department officials to know the real situation”.
“One does not know to whom Sukhbir is trying to befool. Punjab is a state that spends Rs600 crore more than it earns every month. Going by the latest situation, the overdraft was stretched to the last day of the limit and an embarrassing situation has been averted due to release of Rs195 crore loan against small savings otherwise the cash flow from the Reserve Bank of India would have stopped,” said Bajwa.