Chandigarh-The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday lashed out at the BJP-led NDA government in the centre for completely disregarding Punjab and the farming sector in the Budget 2024.
Senior Congress Leader Bajwa said that Punjab is not only the border state but also the food bowl of India, however, the Union Finance Ministry failed to announce a single special package for Punjab.
"The farmers have been demanding a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) on 23 crops. Despite a promise by Prime Minister Narender Modi, the Union government didn't utter a single word on MSP. The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 1.52 lakh crore for agriculture and allied sectors in the entire country, which is not enough to bring the agriculture sector out of the deepening crisis. Punjab's agriculture sector needs a special bailout package", Bajwa added.
The opposition leader said that no relief has been given to the industry and business community of Punjab, who have been forced to migrate to other states. On the other hand, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have been the most priority in the budget.
Bajwa said that several schemes including expressways and industrial packages have been announced for Bihar as part of a larger plan titled Purvodaya in the budget. Similarly, the Union Finance Minister assured Rs 15, 000 crore for Amaravati, in Andhra Pradesh. Other states, particularly the non-NDA ruling states like Punjab, have been ignored completely.
"The budget 2024 seems to have been designed to please Nitish Kumar of JD(U) and Chandra Babu Naidu of TDP to save the government from collapsing. The sole purpose of the budget was to save the government", Bajwa added.