Punjab Budget Session likely to be stormy affair

| | Chandigarh
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Punjab Budget Session likely to be stormy affair

Monday, 01 March 2021 | PNS | Chandigarh

Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s last budget session under the current Congress Government, starting from Monday, is set to be tumultuous.

The 10-day budget session, with eight actual working days, is all set to witness fiery discussion on the wide range of issues with the Centre’s farm laws, set to dominate.

Both Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are also geared up with enough ammunition to target the ruling party with the long list of its unfulfilled promises including drug menace, employment, welfare schemes, among others.

All charged up after party’s landslide victory in the recently-concluded civic body polls, Congress is set to bring in legislation to counteract the Centre’s three new agriculture acts.

On Monday, the Punjab Governor would address the House, following which obituary references will be made for those who have passed away in the intervening period between the previous session.

The state budget for 2021-22 is proposed to be presented on March 5.

This being the last budget of the Congress Government before the State goes to polls in January-February next, the Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal is expected to make various pro-people and populist announcements.

Besides the state budget estimates for the next fiscal, the session will also see the presentation of the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year 2018-19 (civil, commercial) and financial accounts of government of Punjab for the year 2019-20, as well as appropriation accounts for the year 2019-20 on the same day.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Sunday said that his party will “force” the Congress-led Government to explain why it had “betrayed” all sections of the society, in its last budget session.

Majithia said that be it farmers, farm labourers, youth, scheduled and backward castes, government employees or trade and industry, each and every section of the society had been “befooled” by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

“We will ask the Chief Minister to explain why he betrayed the farmers by promising to waive loans taken from nationalized and private banks as well as cooperative societies and arhtiyas when he did not have any intention of fulfilling this promise,” he added.

Similarly, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be questioning the State Government for not being able to “honour” its poll promises made in 2017.

AAP MLA and Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema said: “It has been four years since then and we have reached the final budget session and none of those promises have yet been fulfilled.”

The party has a long list of issues to be raised in the House including farm loan waiver, SC post-matric scholarship, MSP issue, electricity issues, farmers’ suicide, among others.

AAP’s Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann accused the Congress-led government of “throwing all its promises into a dustbin”.

“No promise has been fulfilled yet, be it jobs to every household, farm debt waiver, Rs 2,500 per month pension etc,” said Mann.

Sangrur MP alleged that while “mafia raj” was rampant in the state, the public was “completely neglected” by this government.

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress is scheduled to “gherao” Punjab Raj Bhavan on Monday in protest against “rising” fuel and cooking gas price

On the other hand, the SAD has also planned to “gherao” Punjab Assembly on Monday after the party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal addresses Akali workers at Sector 25. “We will march towards the Vidhan Sabha in a peaceful manner,” said SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema while alleging that the Congress party’s poll promises had turned out to be “fraud”.

BJP leader Tarun Chugh said that they will “expose” the Congress-led dispensation for “not keeping” its promises like farm debt waiver.

“The ruling party always tried to divert attention from its failures in four years,” said Chugh.

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