Chandigarh, March 8
Former Education Minister and MLA Pargat Singh termed the budget presented by the Government of Punjab as an election gimmick. Reacting strongly, he said the government has failed to fulfill any promises made in its previous budgets. Now, in the election year, it is trying to mislead people by presenting big numbers. According to him, the budget is completely disappointing and people do not appear to gain any benefit from it.
Pargat said the government has announced ₹1,000 for women. “Instead, the government should have increased pensions by ₹1,000, which would have benefited 3.552 million beneficiaries. The Supreme Court of India has also made an important observation about the difference between free handouts and welfare schemes, stating that instead of free giveaways, funds should be directed toward welfare schemes,” he said.
Pargat said that if pensions had been increased by ₹1,000, it would have benefited widows, the elderly and persons with disabilities—people who need it the most. He added that the current announcement is made only with elections in mind. The government has been promising ₹1,000 for women for the past four years, while adding, “Now, in the final year, it has announced ₹1,000 and ₹1,500 for women, which, according to him, has also divided women into categories.”
Recalling previous budget promises, Pargat said that in its first budget the government promised to establish 16 new medical colleges but in four years it has not built even one. “In the second year, it announced providing MSP for crops to farmers and introducing an agricultural policy but nothing has happened so far and farmers are still not receiving MSP on all crops,” he added.
Pargat further said that in the third year’s budget, the government promised to build a canal in the Malwa region. “I have not seen any canal being built there. Perhaps it was constructed late at night in the dark—we don’t know,” he remarked, adding that this promise too remained only on paper. In the fourth and most recent budget, the government announced ₹5 crore development funds for MLAs, but that promise has also not been fulfilled.
Pargat said the government’s own statements and promises contain major contradictions. According to him, the Aam Aadmi Party government backs out after making statements in the assembly. He alleged that instead of working, the government focuses on producing “content” to keep people distracted.
The former Education Minister added that the budget contains no plan to move Punjab forward. Only large figures have been presented, which would require hundreds of thousands of crores of rupees. The state has very limited sources of revenue and is already running on loans, with debt crossing ₹4 lakh crore. To fulfill these big claims, he said, Punjab will be pushed deeper into a debt trap, further weakening its financial condition. He added that the government should have prepared a plan to reduce debt and worked towards that goal. According to him, the government has failed on every front, and the budget is directionless and merely an election gimmick.
