Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, December 25: People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Singh Badal today said that the state government by writing to the centre to slow down implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission report has finally accepted the fact of fiscal distress that flies in the face of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who all along has been denying this crisis into which the state has landed.
“Punjab is among the five states including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha that have written to the Prime Minister and Niti Aayog to go slow on the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations as the states normally announce similar hikes for their employees. These states have sought more time to mobolise resources to absorb impact of the hiked pay scales thereby accepting the reality of financial crisis”, he said.
The former finance minister also referred to the admission of crisis made by finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa who has stated that Punjab’s finances were under stress and the burden of Pay Commission’s recommendations would certainly have an impact.
He questioned Sukhbir about his repeated statements that the bogey of financial distress was being raised by the opposition while there was no shortage of funds for development works. He also asked as to which development works were being carried out by the state government from its own resources.
He also referred to the admission of increasing debt by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal who had justified it on the logic of undertaking development works. He asked as to what percentage of this debt has been used as capital expenditure. He pointed out that the state government had even denying the fact of Punjab being among the highly debt stressed states while the figures speak themselves.
He said the Badal government hurriedly announced the setting up of the Pay Commission while at the same time, pleading with the centre to delay implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendation that had exposed the ground reality and also as to how effort was being made to appease government employees to make them believe that their interests were being looked after while on the other hand, that was not the actual situation.
