DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Wednesday said the state Budget presented by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had neither substance nor vision.

"This is one of the most defeatist budgets any government can prepare and present as the AAP appears to have reconciled to its imminent defeat and exit. Hence it has decided not to provide any relief to the people of Punjab," Warring said in a statement.

He asked the government what happened to the "repeated promise" of Rs 1,000 monthly cash assistance to the women of the state?

He observed that at least the government should have been sincere towards women and started providing monthly cash assistance of Rs 1,000 to them.

Warring said not much was expected from the budget since the Punjab government has already emptied the coffers with the state debt touching about Rs 3 lakh crore, while the budget is to the tune of about Rs 2.36 lakh crore.

"Practically, there is not a single penny allocated for infrastructure development in the state," he observed, while maintaining that the government has mainly repackaged some of the old schemes and central schemes. "Most of the funds allocated against various departments will mainly go into the salaries. Even then there's no guarantee about timely payment of salaries," he claimed.

He alleged that the AAP has taken a "pre-emptive revenge" on the people of Punjab and the "party appears to have reconciled to the reality that it was on the way out and that is the reason the government felt that there was no need to provide any relief even in the fourth budget, when everyone expected the budget to be people friendly".

Warring also referred to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), which the government had notified earlier but has not implemented so far.

Describing the drug addicts' census as a mere gimmick, he said it was a cruel joke on them. "Do you want to parade them and humiliate them?" he asked, while pointing out that the health department already has the record of drug addicts in the state.

(editor@dailyworld.in)