Chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s state legislators to share their suggestions as well as encourage their constituents to participate in the budget preparation exercise.
Mann, who held a meeting with the party MLAs in Chandigarh to seek feedback, told them that the government was keen to ensure maximum public participation in the budget exercise. The legislators were also told to submit their ideas and forward the suggestions received from people. The AAP government has already launched a “janta budget” portal where people can give their suggestions.
Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, power minister Harbhajan Singh, health minister Vijay Singla and revenue minister Brahm Shanker Jimpa were among the cabinet ministers present in the meeting attended by most of the party legislators. The MLAs representing urban areas were also asked to gear up for the municipal elections in the state.
Amritsar East MLA and spokesperson Jeevan Jyot Kaur said the CM and ministers held a healthy interactive session with the party legislators. “The MLAs shared feedback and informed them about issues related to their areas,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Amritsar East MLA and spokesperson Jeevan Jyot Kaur said the CM and ministers held a healthy interactive session with the party legislators. “The MLAs shared feedback and informed them about issues related to their areas,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Budhlada MLA Budh Ram said he took up the issues of drinking water supply, canal water and cancelled ration cards of deserving poor families. The CM also asked the MLAs to spread awareness about the incentive of ₹1,500 per acre being offered to paddy farmers to adopt direct seeding of rice (DSR) that saves water, the two-time legislator added. The MLAs were also briefed on decisions taken by the government.
Let experts do the job: Warring
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring questioned Mann over his claim that people of Punjab will make the budget.“The budget is the constitutional responsibility of the government; you cannot outsource or crowd-source it,” he said in a statement.
The PPCC president said this revealed the “gross ignorance and ideological bankruptcy” of the AAP government about the process and procedure of preparing the budget. “People of Punjab have vested you with power and authority to run the government and budget is one of your important responsibilities,” Warring told the CM, adding, “Please stop playing political stunts with such unconstitutional gimmicks and these serve no purpose.”
Accusing the CM of trying to trivialise the most important function of the government for populist purpose, Warring calling it “financial quackery” and asked him to let the experts do the job they are supposed to do.
However, AAP chief spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang termed the decision to involve the people in the budget exercise as “historic”. During the previous governments, budgets were used to be framed after consultation with some of the chief minister’s close leaders, favourite officers and corporate friends, which consequently benefited the capitalists and political leaders only and not the common people, he alleged.
Kang said that Mann has decided to end this old tradition and follow the basic principles of democracy and prepare the budget by considering public opinion. “The suggestions received from farmers, labourers, youths, students, women, elderly people, businessmen and traders will be included in the budget,” he said, adding, “In Delhi too, the AAP government prepares the budget according to the suggestions of the common people.”