Last Updated: September 24, 2023, 20:59 IST
The issue of increasing debts has also been flagged by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit in a letter to the state government. (PTI File)
The issue of increasing debts has also been flagged by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit in a letter to the state government, claiming the debt had risen by Rs 50,000 crore under the AAP dispensation
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has come under fire from opposition parties over the increasing debts, with accusations that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is pushing the state into a financial crisis.
The issue of increasing debts has also been flagged by Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit in a letter to the state government, claiming the debt had risen by Rs 50,000 crore under the AAP dispensation
Former cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu termed the issue raised by Governor “very serious”. “The state’s debt-to-GDP ratio is nearing 50%, which is much higher than the national average. The state’s debt is now at an unsustainable level, and in one year six months, debt increment of about Rs 70,000 crores in two years means that an economic crisis stares at us,” Sidhu told reporters.
Sidhu claimed that the rapidly increasing debt in Punjab is a result of continued corruption and vote bank politics of the AAP. “The politics of freebies is hitting Punjab in irreparable ways, PSPCL borrowings from banks are at more than Rs 18,000 crore and loans for digital meter installation at Rs 9,641 crore. In addition to this, arrears of subsidy and outstanding bills from the Punjab government are at Rs 9,020 crore and Rs 2,548 crore, respectively. PSPCL today is mortgaged and sold out,” he stated.
Echoing similar sentiments, Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sunil Jakhar said the AAP government’s “badlaav” has pushed the state into the financial crisis. “From April to July this year, the AAP has already taken over Rs 11,718 crore as loan,” Jakhar said in a Facebook post.
Reading out the report of the office of Principal Accountant General, the veteran leader said of the Rs 11,718 crore, merely Rs 900 crore had been spent constructively and rest all had gone up in smoke at the whims and fancies of the incumbent dispensation. Jakhar also urged all Punjabis to ask questions to this regime which “thrives on fake propaganda, advertisements and personal aggrandisement”.
“I thank the Governor for setting the proverbial cat among the pigeon by asking Mann about the utilisation details of about Rs 50,000 crore which this government has burdened Punjabis with,” Jakhar said.
“Given the track record, I am not very hopeful of a genuine response by the AAP leadership to queries raised by the Governor,” Jakhar said, adding thanks to the Governor’s missive, Punjabis have started asking, “Where is the money, Mann Sahib?”
Jakhar said both the Delhi and Punjab CMs have fooled people. “Where are those Rs 40,000 crore additional revenue to be generated from transparent auctioning of sand pits and sale of alcohol which Arvind Kejriwal used to scream about during the Assembly elections,” Jakhar asked.
