Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab has put a stop on the ongoing debate about the so called ailing fiscal health of Punjab after putting forward a detailed comparative presentation of 6 years of Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government led by S. Parkash Singh Badal with the Congress government headed by Capt Amarinder Singh till 2007.
Addressing a press conference here today, the Deputy Chief Minister said that instead of blaming the Punjab government of having ill fiscal health, the Congress led UPA government in India was under severe financial crisis and burdened with huge budgetary deficit which needs immediate attention. He categorically said that there was no financial crunch in the state as has been frequently reported in media by the anti Punjab elements. Mr Badal asserted that productive utilization of debt was not bad always and essential for growth as no business, country and state could survive without loan. He firmly said that Punjab Government had never defaulted in the last 7 years on payment of salaries, pensions, principal repayment, employee arrears etc.
He said that Punjab was working in an absolute focused approach to usher in an era of administrative reforms besides upgrading the infrastructure of the state including Power, Roads, Education, Civil Aviation sectors to induce investors to invest heavily in the state. He said that industrial growth in Punjab had suffered tremendously during the previous congress government on infrastructural development. The SAD-BJP government had promised to correct this structural imbalance in the economy of the state and rapid development of infrastructure during last term has already stated showing its results.Reiterating his resolve to bring Punjab back on the track of development and progress, Mr. Badal said that he had fulfilled his dream to make Punjab number one state on development index and was fully satisfied that the state was able to provide a big push to development despite step motherly policies adopted by Congress led UPA Government in allocation of central funds since last 6 years.
He added that the Punjab excelled in investment implementation of Rs. 2 lacs crore which was 79% in last two years as per ASSOCHAM report and Punjab ranks at number 3 where as all India average was 57% in this regard.Comparing the economic development he said that true to the resolution of the Punjab government we have made Punjab as the first power surplus state of the County to put Punjab in the higher orbit of development index. The state has suffered enough at the hands of Congress led UPA at the centre and was given step motherly treatment by creating undue hindrances delaying or at times scuttling the projects of the state envisaged for the welfare of the people of Punjab. He added that during the year 2007 Punjab was producing 6200MW power in which not a single MW power generation capacity was added by previous Congress government but by the end of this year all three thermal plants having capacity of 540 MW at Goindwal Sahib, 1400 MW Rajpura and 2640 MW Talwani Sabo would start generating power. On the other hand 500MW Gas based Power Plant at Rajpura, 1000MW Gas based Power Plant at Ropar, 1320MW Mukerian Thermal Project were also under construction.
He also informed that Punjab has achieved much better results in development against fixed target during 11th plan (2007-12). The target was set on 5.9% by Planning Commission of India and Punjab has registered 6.73% growth rate even after the economic depression all across the globe. Per capita income in Punjab was Rs. 78,594 during 2011-12 whereas in 2012-13 it roses to Rs. 89,345 with an increase of 13.68%. On the national front in 2011-12 it was Rs. 61,564 which increased to 68747 in 2012-13 with an increase of 11.67 percent, much behind Punjab. Mr Badal condemned the deliberated misinformation campaign launched by a handful of people with vested interests about the fiscal health of Punjab. The reality was that debt to GSDP ratio decreased to 31.5 % from 43 % in 2012, he explained. Talking about Road infrastructure which is said to be the back bone of development, he said that keeping in view the importance of this, SAD-BJP is working hard to connect all cities and towns of the state with the network of 4/6 lane roads and all major towns of Punjab would be connected with 4-6 lanes in next 3 years with 11200 crore.