Punjab AAP's 1st Budget gives 300 units of free electricity to households
Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Jun, 2022 04:29 PM
Chandigarh, June 27 (IANS) A day after a humiliating electoral defeat in its stronghold parliamentary seat, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab in its first Budget on Monday proposed to spend Rs 1.55 lakh crore with no new tax, and also provisioned for supplying 300 units of free electricity each month to every household from July 1.
The paperless Budget, with focus on agriculture, education and health, proposed to earn Rs 95,378.28 crore this fiscal, against an expenditure of Rs 1,55,859.78 crore. This means a revenue deficit of Rs 12,553.80 crore.
It proposed Rs 20,122 crore to be spent on the payment of interest on state's loans. However, the total debt servicing will take Rs 36,068.67 crore of the state's earnings.
In the next five years, the Bhagwant Mann-led government, which is silent on its crucial poll promise of Rs 1,000 allowance for each woman over 18 years, will set up 16 medical colleges. With this, the total number of medical colleges will rise to 25.
By 2024, two super specialty hospitals, one each in Patiala and Faridkot, will be established. Three more will be opened by 2027.
Under the AAP govt's flagship programme, 117 mohalla clinics will be established this year, with the opening of 75 clinics in the first phase on August 15, to mark the 75th Independence Day. An initial outlay of Rs 77 crore was proposed for the clinics.
To woo the youth, the government announced to fill 24,400 posts in the government sector and regularisation of jobs for 36,000 contractual employees.
For agriculture, the state's mainstay, there is a provision of Rs 11,560 crore. And to provide free power to agricultural tubewells, Rs 6,947 crore will be spent.
Opting renewable energy, the Budget has provision to install rooftop solar plants in the government schools at a cost of Rs 100 crore.
To find solutions to stubble burning smog, which blankets the entire northern belt of India, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh, in October-November, Rs 200 crore was allocated.
To facilitate the business community, the government will constitute a special commission comprising only of traders and businessmen. The body will collaborate with the government in decision-making and policy formulation.
With an aim to bring new opportunities to the sub-mountainous Kandi area, a highway from Chandigarh to Pathankot along the Shivaliks is proposed to be developed.
Cheema said the government will set up a model of good governance. "Our government has zero-tolerance towards corruption...Our party's birth started from the anti-corruption movement," he said, adding the government is acting against those who indulge in corrupt practices.
The AAP came to power in February after winning 92 of the 117 Assembly segments in the state.
Terming the development as a black day in the history of Punjab, Badal said never before in the history of the state had outsiders been given control of the state and its future generations in this manner.
Sidhu has been left out in the cold ever since the party lost the elections in Punjab earlier this year. He was asked to resign after the party appointed Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the new President of Punjab Congress. Since then the Congress has set up a new team in Punjab, reportedly annoying the former state Congress chief.
Announcing to replicate the Delhi Model in the state, the Chief Minister said 117 government schools and an equal number of mohalla clinics will be set up with one each in every assembly segment across the state to impart quality education and the state-of-the-art healthcare facilities.
A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the move is aimed at sprucing up the health and education infrastructure of Punjab by replicating the Delhi model in both these core sectors.
After launching the web-portal amidst presence of DIG (Cyber Crime) Nilambari Jagdale and DSP Samarpal Singh, the DGP congratulated the entire team for developing this user-friendly portal, which could be easily accessed by anyone to report cyber frauds.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla noted that the interim status report filed by the Delhi Police shows that the police force failed to prevent miscreants from reaching the residence of the Chief Minister and vandalising the area.
