Manpreet blames state govt for Punjab’s exclusion
Friday, 27/02/2015
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CHANDIGARH: People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) chief Manpreet Singh Badal on Thursday slammed the Parkash Singh Badal government in the state for having failed to effectively present its case to the Centre for special financial assistance.
“It is shocking that Punjab has been excluded from the list of debt-ridden states for which special assistance has been announced by the 14th Finance Commission. Punjab was among the top three debt-ridden states, along with Kerala and Bengal when, as the finance minister, I had taken up the case with the Centre for debt relief, to which the Centre had agreed in principle subject to conditions like rationalisation of subsidies. Ironically, while now nine more states have been included as the financiallystressed states taking the number to 11, Punjab has been excluded. This reflects the utter failure of the chief minister to take up the case properly with the very government in which the Akali Dal is a partner,” he added.
“The state government must tell the people as to what went wrong. These 11 states have been allocated special funds amounting to ` 1.95 lakh crore over the next five years with allocation of ` 40,625 crore to Himachal Pradesh, ` 59,666 crore to Jammu and Kashmir and ` 22,113 crore to Andhra Pradesh.
He said the hike in Punjab’s share from the central pool from 1.389% to 1.577% was just meagre.
He said now even finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa had admitted that the state had not got its due. He expressed the apprehension that with the financial profligacy being resorted to, the financial crisis in the state would deepen further.
