Process initiated to give ₹1,000 per month to women: Harpal Cheema

Chandigarh : Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has initiated the process to fulfil its promise of providing ₹1,000 per month to women in the state.

₹1,000 per month to women in the state.” title=”Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has initiated the process to fulfil its promise of providing ₹1,000 per month to women in the state.” /> ₹1,000 per month to women in the state.” title=”Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday announced that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has initiated the process to fulfil its promise of providing ₹1,000 per month to women in the state.” />

He said that four out of the five guarantees made by the AAP government have already been fulfilled, and the departments concerned are actively working to implement the fifth guarantee. The budget for this year, named “Badalda Punjab” (transforming Punjab), reflects the government’s commitment to change and progress, he said while replying to the debate on the budget proposals.

Cheema highlighted the significant increase in GST revenue under the current administration compared to the previous Congress-led government. He pointed out that when GST was introduced in 2017, the Congress government collected only ₹21,286 crore, without making efforts to increase revenue. In contrast, under chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s leadership, GST revenue has surged to ₹64,253 crore over the past three years.

He criticised the Congress finance minister, who has since joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, for focusing on poetic expressions instead of taking substantive financial actions. Cheema also challenged former Congress cabinet ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Aruna Chaudhary to admit whether they ever truly understood the budget during their tenure.

On the state’s financial challenges, Cheema explained that the reliance on GST compensation under the Congress-led government resulted in a debt of ₹20,000 crore, which continues to burden Punjab. He argued that had the previous government focused on boosting GST revenue, the state would not have needed to take loans. He dismissed the opposition’s allegations of “tax terrorism,” emphasising that the previous government failed to create a tax intelligence unit or implement measures to combat tax evasion, leading to significant financial losses for the state over the past five years.

Cheema also provided updates on Punjab’s financial strategies, including an investment of ₹8,000 crore into a sinking fund to manage short-term loans.

Power subsidy bill mounting: Rana Gurjeet

Taking part in the debate, Congress’ Rana Gurjeet Singh said that state government should give a serious thought towards piling power subsidy for free power to agriculture tubewells which eating into state coffers.

He added that Punjab needs diversification as agriculture over two to four acres is not profitable even if MSP is offered. Terming the budget a weak document, he said in the previous budget ₹ 575 crore was announced for diversification out of which a small portion ₹37 crore has been utilised and for the coming financial year, the sanction has been reduced to one-fifth at ₹ 115 crore which shows that government’s seriousness towards the issue.

SAD’s Manpreet Singh Ayali asked the government to clarify about giving constituency development fund to all 117 legislators in the state.