Punjab government has failed to bring out the promised “White Paper” on economy seven months ago.
With no White Paper on economy, confusion prevails about the state of the economy as the chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and the finance minister view differently most of the economic issues.
The state finance minister stated that he would prefer to quit than give away subsidies totaling Rs 4,000 per annum. This has given a new agenda to the opposition.
The government had also failed to take up the issue of raising share in Central taxes like income tax, excise tax etc. The party had promised about a Federal economy and more powers to the states. However, on coming to power, the Punjab government had not taken up the issue with the Centre to seek higher allocation in Central taxes.
Government sources told FE that Punjab’s borrowings are over Rs 53,000 crore with annual interest crossing Rs 4,500 crore. The finance minister has been blaming previous government led by chief minister, Amarinder Singh for leaving empty coffers. Amarinder Singh on his part has been claiming that he had left beaming treasuries with sufficient funds to launch welfare schemes for the poor. The SAD had also criticized Amarinder Singh government for Punjab Nirman Yojna launched during his regime which cost the government over Rs 3,000 crore.
Senior SAD leaders say that the state has also failed to restructure the economy for fiscal and non fiscal reforms. Instead the state finance minister blames his own colleagues and the chief minister. Political analysts say that by his statements on the poor shape of the state economy, Manpreet Singh Badal has set the agenda for the opposition which did not had any issues to raise. These leaders say that the Punjab finance minister should have advocated the pro-poor policies rather subsidising Rs 4,000 crore annually which it cannot afford.