The Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget 2022-23 and said it completely neglected common people and the middle class, but the BJP hailed it as a big step forward to help the farming community and to usher in a new era in agriculture revival. AAP's Punjab president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann alleged that the central government was “so focused on their corporate friends” that it completely neglected common people and the middle class.
"No special package for Punjab or the farmers of our country is proof of BJP-led central government's vindictiveness against them," Mann, who is AAP's chief ministerial candidate for the February 20 Punjab polls, said in a statement here. He claimed that the Centre has again ignored Punjab's long-standing demand for a rail link between Rajpura and Mohali.
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"This link would have also weakened the transport mafia in Punjab," he said. "The Centre has proposed developments in the railway sector under the PPP model that means now they want to give reins of this sector to their corporate friends too," Mann said.
The budget did not address the issue of inflation, setbacks that the education sector has been facing due to the Covid pandemic, farmers or unemployment in our country, he claimed. The APP leader said that the union budget was a “big disappointment” for the common people of the country. He said the middle-class felt left out since the government has failed them badly.
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Meanwhile, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh hailed the budget as a big step forward to help the farming community and to usher in a new era in agriculture revival. Chugh said the Modi government has reaffirmed its commitment to MSP "which has been a matter of doubt and debate in Punjab and given new hope to farmers in Punjab".
He said that the Centre's commitment for procurement of wheat in the Rabi season and the estimated procurement of paddy in Kharif season will cover 1,208 lakh metric tonnes of wheat and paddy from 163 lakh farmers and Rs 2.37 lakh crore will be the direct payment of MSP value to their accounts. Chugh, in a statement, said it “completely debunks the misleading and provocative propaganda unleashed by a section of society” in Punjab in the last about two years.
He said that the Centre's decision to push 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’ would open new windows for farmers in the state. Chugh welcomed the Centre's decision to use ‘Kisan drones’ for crop assessment, digitisation of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients.
He said that the provision to promote chemical-free natural farming in the country would go a long way to help farmers in Punjab. Chugh said that the provision of financial support to farmers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes wanting to take up agro-forestry would also help the state.
With PTI Inputs
