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Punjab assembly passes vote-on-account of ₹37,120 crore
The Punjab assembly passed a vote-on-account of ₹37,120 crore on Tuesday to meet the state government’s expenditure for the first three months of the financial year 2022-23
The Punjab assembly passed a vote-on-account of ₹37,120 crore on Tuesday to meet the state government’s expenditure for the first three months of the financial year 2022-23.
Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema moved the motion in the House regarding the interim budget for the April-June period. The Punjab Appropriation (vote-on-account) Bill, 2022, was passed on the concluding day of the three-day session without any discussion. The interim budget was required as the new Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government headed by chief minister Bhagwant Mann took charge on March 16 and has not had the time to prepare a full budget. The cabinet ministers, including Cheema, took oath on March 19 and were allocated portfolios on Monday evening.
Cheema, who held the introductory meeting with officials of the finance department on Tuesday afternoon, said the government would start working on the roadmap for the implementation of guarantees and schemes announced by the chief minister. “We will also prune expenses, check tax evasion and work to improve efficiency of revenue generation efforts,” he said after the day’s proceedings got over.
According to the interim budget, an amount of ₹2,357 crore will be incurred on the agriculture sector while ₹1,345 crore have been earmarked for health sector. An amount of ₹4,643 crore has been budgeted for education, sports, art and culture for the first three months of the next fiscal. An outlay of ₹1,310 crore has been allocated for local government, ₹570 crore for public works, ₹767 crore for rural development and panchayats, ₹1,484 crore for social security, women and child development and ₹1,153 crore for power sector. The state’s additional debt during this period has been pegged at ₹5,442 crore whereas an estimated expenditure of ₹4,788 crore will be incurred on interest payments. The finance minister also presented supplementary demands for grants of expenditure of the state for the current financial year.
