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Punjab budget: Opposition questions delay in rollout of ₹1,000 monthly aid for women
The budget lacks a visionary roadmap for the development of the state and has been reduced to a mere accounting exercise - Senior Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu.
Opposition leaders on Sunday questioned the Punjab government over its announcement to provide ₹1,000 per month to women, asking why a promise made nearly four years ago was being formally rolled out only now and why no arrears had been announced for the intervening period.
The issue was raised after the state government reiterated the scheme during the budget session on Sunday. Opposition leaders said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had promised before the 2022 assembly elections to provide ₹1,000 per month to every woman above 18 years of age but had delayed implementing the measure despite being in power for four years.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu said if the government was serious about fulfilling its promise, it should have also announced payment of arrears amounting to ₹48,000 to eligible women for the period since it assumed power.
He alleged that the budget presented by the government was “a bundle of lies” and accused the ruling party of misleading the people of Punjab.
“Take it from me in writing that the AAP will spend more money on advertisements than it will pay to the women, if it really does pay,” Ashu said. He further criticised the budget, saying it lacked any visionary roadmap for the development of the state and had been reduced to a mere accounting exercise.
Former cabinet minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal also criticised the announcement, terming the budget a “joke” with the people of Punjab, particularly women. He said the government had promised ₹1,000 per month to every woman above 18 years of age before the elections but had now attached conditions to the scheme after coming to power.
Grewal further alleged that the government had failed to fulfil several other promises, including the opening of 12 medical colleges in the state, claiming that no significant steps had been taken in that direction.
District president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnish Dhiman, also criticised the timing of the announcement, saying the government appeared to have revived the promise with elections approaching. “With elections less than a year away, the government suddenly recalls its promise. Had it been serious, it would have declared that arrears for the past four years would also be paid,” he said.
Opposition leaders said the government must clarify when the scheme will actually be implemented and whether women would receive the payments that were promised earlier.
