Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday emphasized that the "Badalda Punjab" budget reflects the AAP government's commitment to transforming the state and ensuring the well-being of its citizens.
He criticised previous governments for inadequate resource mobilisation and compared the AAP government's three-year performance with that of the erstwhile SAD-BJP and Congress regimes. Presenting a ₹2.36 lakh crore budget for the financial year 2025-26, Cheema reiterated the government's focus on development and reform.
During the budget discussion in the Vidhan Sabha, Cheema expressed gratitude to both the ruling party and the opposition for their contributions.
He stated that the Aam Aadmi Party came to power with five guarantees and has already fulfilled four of them. The finance, welfare, and other departments are currently collecting data to implement the fifth guarantee—providing ₹1,000 to women—soon.
Addressing the state's revenue situation, Cheema highlighted the government's achievements in increasing Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections. He pointed out that when GST was introduced in 2017, the Congress-led government collected only ₹21,286 crore without making efforts to enhance revenue.
In contrast, under Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann's leadership, GST revenue has surged to ₹64,253 crore over three years.
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He criticised the former Congress finance minister, who later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, for handling financial matters through poetic expressions rather than concrete action. He also challenged Congress leaders, including former ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Aruna Chaudhary, to acknowledge whether they truly understood the budget during their tenure.
Cheema elaborated on the financial burden inherited from the Congress-led government, particularly their reliance on GST compensation, which was recorded as a loan by the central government.
He stated that Punjab still carries a debt entry of ₹20,000 crore due to this compensation and argued that if previous governments had taken steps to boost GST revenue earlier, the state would not need to rely on loans now.
Dismissing opposition allegations of "tax terrorism," he asserted that the previous government failed to establish a tax intelligence unit or introduce reward schemes like 'Bill Liyao Inam Pao,' leading to substantial tax evasion.
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Regarding excise duty, Cheema compared revenue collections under different administrations. The SAD-BJP government collected ₹20,545 crore from 2012 to 2017, while the Congress government collected ₹27,395 crore over the next five years. In just three years, the AAP government has already collected ₹28,000 crore. He pledged to generate an additional ₹25,000 crore for the state treasury in the next two years.
He further criticized the Congress and Akali-BJP governments for failing to eliminate mafias that hindered revenue growth, while highlighting AAP’s success in eradicating land mafias, which led to increased revenue from stamp duty and registration.
Under the AAP government, revenue in this sector has risen to ₹14,786 crore in three years, compared to ₹12,387 crore collected under the SAD-BJP government and ₹12,459 crore under the Congress government over five years.
Reaffirming the government's commitment to social welfare, Cheema announced an allocation of ₹13,987 crore to the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) for FY 2025-26, making up 34 percent of the state’s total development budget.
A key initiative in the budget is a loan waiver scheme for individuals who defaulted on loans taken from the Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation (PSCFC) until March 31, 2020. This scheme will benefit 4,650 individuals, providing them with an opportunity to rebuild their lives.
Following the discussion, the House passed the state budget, marking a significant step toward the AAP government's vision of a transformed Punjab.
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