Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislature party leader in the Assembly, Manpreet Singh Ayali, on Tuesday, accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of reneging on the promises it made to the people including implementation of the Rs 1,000 per month allowance to all women in Punjab.
Participating in a discussion on the state budget 2022-23 in the Assembly, Ayali said women, who had played a big role in the formation of the AAP government, were feeling betrayed.
“The government has not allocated any funds for the disbursement among the women making it clear that the scheme will not be implemented this year,” the SAD leader said adding the government has also failed to implement the old pension scheme as promised.
He said even though the government had come out with a Rs 1.55 lakh crore budget, it failed to disclose the sources of revenue to meet this expense.
The SAD leader said the GST regime was expected to come to an end which would reduce compensation from the Centre. “The government’s excise policy had been shunned by contractors with only 25 out of the 177 blocks being auctioned. The government has been forced to go in for reductions which will result in a loss of around Rs 350 Crore. Income from registration of land had also come down drastically,” he said.
Pointing out that the government’s failure to increase its sources of income forced it to borrow Rs 10,000 crore in three months’ time only, Ayali said, “If this trend continues, the state will be pushed further into the debt trap.”
The SAD legislature party leader also questioned the government’s intentions in regularising the services of 36,000 contractual employees saying it had failed to even move a resolution in this regard in the Assembly.
He said even those selected for jobs, including nearly 10,000 police personnel, were not being issued joining letters. He also demanded that all vacant posts of ‘patwari’ and ‘kanungo’ be filled besides calling for the implementation of the old pension scheme, the seventh Pay Commission for college and university teachers and disbursement of agri-subsidies as well as honorariums to Nambardars.