Tinu lauds Budget, says promise for women allowance to be fulfilled
Senior leader and state spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Pawan Kumar Tinu, praised the Punjab Budget 2025-26 and thanked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and party supremo Arvind Kejriwal for making special provisions for the Scheduled Caste community in the document.
Addressing a press conference in Jalandhar on Thursday, along with AAP leader Tarandeep Singh Sunny, Pawan Tinu, praised the decision to waive off loans amounting to Rs 70 crore taken by Dalit families under the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation until March 31, 2020.
He said the decision had benefitted over 4,650 families who were unable to repay loan due to high-interest rates and financial difficulties. He said key allocations in the Budget include Rs 262 crore for scholarships for Scheduled Caste and Backward Class students, Rs 36 crore under the Ashirwad Scheme to financial assist in the marriage of girls from underprivileged families and Rs 6,175 crore for social welfare programmes benefitting women, senior citizens, differently-abled individuals and divorced or single women.
He said the Budget reflects the AAP government’s campaign against drugs as Rs 110 crore had been allocated for advanced anti-drone systems to combat cross-border smuggling and Rs 150 crore for Punjab’s first drug census.
When asked about Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa’s comments on the AAP government having taken hefty loans, Tinu said, “There’s no state or country which doesn’t take or utilise loans. But there are measures for how a state gets loans. How much is your gross domestic product, income and accomplishments. The loan is given based on your balance sheet. The Congress itself took loans of over 3 lakh crore for which we are paying interest of 59,000 crore.”
Responding on Bajwa’s comments on AAP MP Balbir Singh Seechewal’s model and his call for replacing that with Thapar or other model, Tinu said, “Congress leaders are frustrated because those who made tall promises see themselves losing political ground. People see a difference we are showing them with our works. We are already working on the Thapar model and other designs and plans from many universities. We are doing many different works.”
Speaking on the unfulfilled promise of giving Rs 1,100 to women, Tinu said, “The provisions for Rs 5 lakh to 10 lakh have been made for providing health insurance to families in the state. I believe, soon the promise of Rs 1,100 for women will also be fulfilled. We are working on these promises one by one. Though previous ruling dispensations wiped the state treasury clean, yet our government has brought the Punjab’s economy to its feet in a short time.”
