Haryana Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu on Friday said that the State has created a distinct identity for itself in the fields of economics and politics, and left Punjab way behind in terms of development. Speaking in the Swarna Jayanti session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Friday, the Minister said, “Haryana is unique in terms of history and geography.”
After the inception of Haryana as a separate State, officers of the Punjab Government used to take a dig at their Punjab counterparts, saying they should turn to Punjab when they do not get salaries. However, today Haryana is way ahead of Punjab in every field, the Finance Minister said. While the plan outlay of Haryana was only
Rs 26 crore at the time of reorganisation of Punjab, the plan outlay of Punjab stood at
Rs 44 crore. Today, the plan outlays of Haryana and Punjab stand at Rs 24,871 crore and Rs 21,174 crore, respectively, he said.
The Minister informed the House that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Haryana has increased from Rs 332 crore in 1966 to Rs 3,96,642 crore, and that of Punjab from Rs 570.69 crore to Rs 3,31,940 crore during the last five decades. Similarly, the per capita income in Haryana is Rs 1.32 lakh per person and in Punjab it is Rs 1,01,400 per person, he added.
Paying tributes to the political leaders, farmers, labourers, soldiers, sportspersons, industrialists and traders who had made significant contributions during the 50-year journey of Haryana, Capt Abhimanyu said that his father had also been jailed along with many other people during the ‘Hindi Satyagraha’ movement on August 9, 1957.