People's Party of Punjab (PPP) chief Manpreet Singh Badal on Sunday described the first three years of the Parkash Singh Badal government as a record of "inexcusable failure on every front", especially the economy and social sectors.
"The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that the state spends Rs 600 crore more than what it receives as revenue every month. This is not sufficient to meet even the committed liabilities. The debt burden would rise to Rs 1.13 lakh crore by the end of the current fiscal with debt servicing being Rs 11,496 crore per annum. Even the growth of revenue receipts has declined from the earlier 18% to about 11%," Manpreet said in a statement here.
He said the state of affairs had further worsened with the Centre's decision to take out Punjab from the category of debt-stressed states.
He also apprehended that Punjab might not benefit much from the much-acclaimed rise in share of states in central taxes from 30% to 42% in the context of certain schemes now taken out of the list of the centrally sponsored schemes for which the allocations would have to be made by the states.
Manpreet said the Akali Dal-BJP government had utterly failed not only to match up to the expectations of the people but also miserably flopped to keep scores of promises made in the manifesto and the list happened to be long. "With the state coffers virtually empty, the people could not hope for any relief, what to talk of implementation of the promises," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Manpreet said the Akali Dal-BJP government had utterly failed not only to match up to the expectations of the people but also miserably flopped to keep scores of promises made in the manifesto and the list happened to be long. "With the state coffers virtually empty, the people could not hope for any relief, what to talk of implementation of the promises," he said.
{{/usCountry}}He also referred to the increasing tension between the SAD and the BJP "at every level" in the state, saying the alliance had virtually become non-functional and the clashes between the activists of the two parties had become a routine affair. Such a situation would only harm the state, he added.