‘Lack of vision, road map to revive failing economy’: Oppn on Budget

CHANDIGARH : The opposition on Monday attacked the AAP government in Punjab for presenting a lacklustre maiden Budget for the fiscal year 2022-23, with no roadmap for the schemes announced and a lack of vision to revive the “decaying” economy of the state.

Leader of Opposition Partap Bajwa said that the government’s guarantees to the people of Punjab are left unfulfilled. The finance minister has made a mention of 300 units of free power in the budget speech, it is still unclear to the people of Punjab of whom can receive these subsidies and how exactly the new power subsidy would be funded. The Congress leader said the government has not shown any road map for the schemes announced in the budget.

Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma said the first Budget presented by AAP is a sad apology as nothing concrete has been proposed for the betterment of the state. In a statement, Sharma said the budget is not Punjabcentric and smacks of AAP’S Delhi team.

“There is nothing visionary for reviving the decaying economy. The roadmap to revitalise the industry has no mention. Better allocation of funds for hospitals and infrastructure is absent,” said Sharma.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said the AAP government has betrayed the Punjabis by failing to allocate resources to fulfil key promises and condemned chief minister Bhagwant Mann for mindlessly thrusting the failed Delhi model on the state.

SAD leader Manpreet Singh Ayali said the government had betrayed women voters by failing to allocate a single rupee under the ₹1,000 per month allowance scheme for them.

“The government has even failed to lay out the road map for implementing the 300 units per month free power scheme. PSPCL is already running in losses and the government has not come out with an allocation to compensate it for running this scheme,” he said.