Chandigarh, March 28: The Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal on Tuesday tore into the Budget proposals made by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal for 2018-19. Legislators of both parties accused the government of fudging figures in the “sacrosanct” Budget document, and not making enough budgetary allocations for the marginalised sections.
Though the Business Advisory Council of the Vidhan Sabha had decided that the Budget discussion would be concluded on Tuesday, the government decided at the last minute to postpone the FM’s reply to Wednesday.
The three Opposition parties claimed that the discussion was being put off as most MLAs from the treasury benches had left the House before it was adjourned till Wednesday. As against 30 MLAs from the Congress, the total number of Opposition members present was 31.
As the Opposition parties demanded that the Budget discussion be concluded, missives to party MLAs were sent by the Congress MLAs in the House. Some of the MLAs and two ministers returned to the Vidhan Sabha.
Bikram Singh Majithia (SAD) said the ruling party MLAs present were fewer than the Opposition ones and voting on the Budget would have seen the proposals being rejected. However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra later told The Tribune that the schedule for the day did not include voting on the Appropriation Bill, so there was no question of voting on the demands.
“The discussion has been carried forward to the next day only for convenience,” he said. Speaker Rana KP Singh, too, said the voting on the Budget was not scheduled for Tuesday.
Former Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said the actual revenue gap in the Budget was Rs 13,400 crore, and not Rs 4,150 crore, as claimed by Manpreet.
“The FM has fabricated the document by showing enhanced revenue receipts and suppressing expenditure,” he added.
Aman Arora (AAP) said the unproductive debt was mounting. He, too, alleged that the Budget figures were fudged, especially considering the slow year-on-year growth in the state’s non-tax revenues till now, and the 100 per cent jump projected in the next fiscal.
Kanwar Sandhu (AAP) said: “The situation in Punjab reminds me of how Nero was caught fiddling while Rome was burning.”
