Akali Dal leader accuses AAP govt of reneging on promises

Chandigarh, June 29 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislature party leader Manpreet Singh Ayali on Tuesday accused Punjab's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of reneging on its promises by failing to allocate funds to fulfil its promises, including implementation of the Rs 1,000 per month allowance to every woman aged 18 or above.

Participating in the discussion on the state budget 2022-23, Ayali said the women, who had played a big role in the formation of the AAP government, were feeling betrayed. "The government has not allocated any funds for disbursement to women making it clear that the scheme will not be implemented this year."

He also condemned the government for failing to implement the old-pension scheme as promised.

Ayali said even though the government had come out with an Rs 1.55 lakh crore budget, it had failed to disclose the sources of revenue to meet this expense.

He said the GST compensation regime was expected to come to an end. "The government's excise policy had been shunned by contractors with only 25 out of the 177 blocks being auctioned. The government has been forced to go in for reductions which will result in a loss of around Rs 350 crore."

He said the income from registration of land had also come down drastically.

Asserting that the government's failure to increase its sources of income had forced it to borrow Rs 10,000 crore in three months only, Ayali said: "If this trend continues the state will be pushed into a further debt trap."

The SAD legislature party leader also questioned the government's intentions to regularise the services of 36,000 contractual employees, saying it had failed to even move a resolution in this regard in the Assembly.

He said even those selected for jobs including nearly 10,000 police personnel, were not being issued joining letters. He also demanded that all vacant posts of 'patwari' and 'kanungo' be filled, besides calling for implementation of the old-pension scheme, the Seventh Pay Commission for college and university teachers and disbursement of agri-subsidies as well as honorariums to 'nambardars'.