(MOREPIC1) Face2News/Chandigarh
The General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, former Union Minister, and Member of Parliament from Sirsa Kumari Selja called the Haryana BJP government's budget a manipulation of figures, saying it is nothing but a bundle of lies.
Kumari Selja said that the government has reduced the budget for crucial sectors such as agriculture, irrigation, education, health, energy, transport, public health, cooperation, and home affairs. There is no concern for present issues or future challenges; unemployment, inflation, youth, women, farmers, and village issues are completely missing.
The announcements made by the government regarding education and health should have led to a significant increase in their budgets to ensure these promises could be fulfilled, but this government has always relied on falsehoods to mislead the public. The government must explain how it plans to work in education and health sectors without a proper budget.
Kumari Selja described the budget presented by the Haryana government as a bundle of lies, stating that most of the announcements were made to deceive the public. She said that the government has announced the opening of a government college every 20 km and a government model cultural school every 10 km.
However, despite these announcements, the budget for education has not seen a significant increase. To implement these plans, the government needs to increase the education budget manifold. For education and sports, the government has allocated Rs 18,420.65 crore for 2023-24, Rs 20,408.83 crore for 2024-25, and Rs 22,312.46 crore for 2025-26. Based on these figures, it is clear that the government cannot fulfill its promises with this budget. On the other hand, the condition of government schools in the state is well known.
(SUBHEAD)Kumari Selja said that the government has also announced a government medical college in each district. However, in some areas, work has not even begun, and in others, the foundation stones have been laid without further action. The announcement to increase the number of beds in hospitals, such as increasing a 50-bed hospital to 100 beds and a 100-bed hospital to 200 beds, and providing MRI facilities in district hospitals has been made.
But given the health budget, it seems that the government has misled the public here as well. For health, the government has allocated Rs 8,006.47 crore for 2023-24, Rs 9,835.39 crore for 2024-25, and Rs 10,539.96 crore for 2025-26. Based on this budget, it is evident that these announcements cannot be implemented unless the budget for health is increased significantly.
Kumari Selja said the silence in the budget regarding many election promises, such as providing two lakh jobs, guaranteeing MSP to farmers, and curbing inflation. This budget is directionless and hollow. It neither addresses present issues nor looks into future concerns. Unemployment, inflation, youth, women, farmer, and village issues are completely missing from this budget.
It appears that the government is following a policy of borrow money and enjoy as evidenced by the increasing debt. In 2013-14, the total debt was Rs 60,293 crore (from November 1, 1966, to March 31, 2014, i.e., 49 years). By 2025-26, the debt had risen to Rs 3,52,818 crore in 11 years, marking an increase of 600 percent. Kumari Selja said that the BJP government is driving Haryana towards bankruptcy. Over the 11 years of BJP's rule, the state's economy and social harmony have been destroyed.