AAP govt fails to get special status for state in Budget: MLA

Two days after the announcement of the Union Budget, Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh has said the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab had failed to convince the Centre that Punjab is a border state and it should be given special benefits and be treated as a special case.

“Punjab shares 553-km border with Pakistan, which faces attempts to push drugs into the state”, said the legislator, adding that there was always a risk of insurgency and also a portion of agricultural land was across the border fence, which multiplied the risk.

“No doubt the government has tried to push for an industrial package before the Finance Ministry as necessary for economic and infrastructure development and employment generation, the special package is needed to bail it out of the hardships it is facing”, said the Congress MLA.

The legislator demanded that Punjab should be treated on a par with North-eastern states enjoying special category status. “Of the total outlay, Punjab should get 10 per cent to save itself from socio-economic doom”, he added. The debts on the state are piling up and have touched Rs 3 lakh crore and the agriculture sector is also in acute distress, facing a debt of Rs 1 lakh crore of which Rs 80,000 crore is institutional loan. “Punjab needs a bailout package,” stressed the MLA.

He said, "The state needs a special package for rejuvenating its agriculture and infrastructure development so as to strengthen human development index. Human development index measures standard of living, health and education."

Referring to a special package for some states, Rana Gurjeet Singh said the indifference towards other states, particularly Punjab, would lead to a trust deficit. Ideally in the Budget, all states should have been treated equally, he underlined.