Chandigarh, August 23:Bharatiya Janata Party, Punjab State President Kewal Singh Dhillon launched a sharp attack on the economic policies and financial mismanagement of the Aam Aadmi Party government, saying that the AAP government has pushed Punjab into a debt trap instead of putting the state on the path of development, the burden of which will have to be borne by future generations as well.

Dhillon said that before the Aam Aadmi Party government came to power, Punjab had a debt of approximately ₹2.82 lakh crore. However, during the nearly four-and-a-half-year tenure of the AAP government, the debt has increased to around ₹4.5 lakh crore. He said the government is continuously raising fresh loans, but despite this rising debt, there has been no corresponding substantial improvement in the state’s revenue, productive capacity or infrastructure.

He said the seriousness of Punjab’s financial situation can be gauged from the fact that Powercom is now preparing to raise a fresh loan of ₹10,000 crore. Earlier, GMADA had also decided to raise ₹15,000 crore in funds. The State President said the continued dependence of government institutions on borrowing is a serious indication of Punjab’s deteriorating financial condition.

Dhillon said that on the one hand, the Punjab government is citing the financial crisis to keep the legitimate demands of the people and the rights of government employees and pensioners pending, while on the other hand, it is raising loans on a large scale. He questioned that if the government’s financial position is so strong, why are government institutions repeatedly being forced to take heavy loans to meet their requirements?

Dhillon said that paying crores of rupees in fees to merchant bankers and other financial intermediaries for arranging these loans is also placing an additional burden on the state exchequer.

Dhillon alleged that Punjab’s debt is continuously increasing, but in return, people are neither seeing development on a corresponding scale nor any major transformation in the fields of employment, industry, healthcare and education. He said Punjab is being looted while government funds are being spent on advertisements and political publicity.

He said the people of Punjab will certainly hold the AAP government accountable for its failures in the upcoming Assembly elections. The people of Punjab will never tolerate increasing the state’s debt in the name of development and the alleged loot of the government exchequer. He said the only option to pull Punjab out of the financial crisis and put it back on the path of development is a double-engine BJP government.