Opposition parties target AAP govt over state's 'mounting' debt, demand white paper

A day before the budget session of the Punjab Assembly, opposition parties on Thursday slammed the AAP government over ''rising'' debt and demanded a white paper on the state of finances. The budget session of the Punjab assembly will commence on March 6. The budget will be presented on March 8. Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said the state government should bring out a white paper in view of ''mounting debt'' that has crossed the Rs 4 lakh crore and is projected to reach Rs 4.17 lakh crore by the end of this fiscal. ''Reckless borrowing by the AAP government has brought Punjab to the brink of bankruptcy,'' he claimed. ''This was quite contrary to the claims of fiscal prudence and revenue generation promised by the AAP leadership. Now the situation is such that the state government has to take out a loan to pay the interest on existing loans,'' the Congress leader claimed. He alleged that while all previous governments in the last three decades have borrowed, the current dispensation borrowed with ''wanton greed without caring for the state's future''. While the previous governments accumulated Rs 3 lakh crore debt in 30 years, the AAP added over Rs 1 lakh crore to the state's debt in just four years, and that too mostly for unproductive purposes, Warring alleged. He pointed out that there was not a single infrastructure development project launched during the last four years. Noting that despite the state's ''precarious'' financial situation, he said, the AAP was splurging money on ''non-productive extravagance like advertisements, hoardings and banners and painting of the government assets''. Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia too targeted the Aam Aadmi Party government over the issue. In a statement, Majithia said that different governments formed in Punjab since Independence had taken a total loan of Rs 2,81,773 crore till the financial year 2021-22. With this borrowing, governments from time to time created the basic infrastructure of the state, he said and claimed that between 2007 and 2017, the basic infrastructure of Punjab was established under the leadership of then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, which people of the state still remember. However, by March 2026, this debt is going to increase to around Rs 4,17,136 crore because the Bhagwant Mann government has taken nearly Rs 1,35,363 crore loan in just four years, Majithia said. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh alleged that the Bhagwant Mann government is continuously pushing Punjab towards a serious financial crisis by taking loan after loan. Over the past few years, Punjab's debt has rapidly increased to more than Rs 4 lakh crore, he pointed out and claimed that the government was once again preparing to take a substantial loan, which will further weaken the state's financial condition. ''Despite taking such massive loans, there is no visible development on the ground in Punjab. No major dam has been constructed, no major bridge has been built, no new industrial units have been established, and no meaningful transformation has taken place in the agricultural sector,'' Chugh added.