Punjab budget revenue deficit pegged at Rs.3,379 crore
March 14th, 2011 - 7:47 pm ICT by IANSChandigarh, March 14 (IANS) Punjab’s first woman finance minister, Upinderjit Kaur, Monday presented the state’s budget for 2011-12 fiscal with the revenue deficit pegged at nearly Rs.3,379 crore.
No new taxes have been proposed for the next year.
Elections to the Punjab state assembly are scheduled February-March next year.
Delivering her maiden budget speech in the state assembly here Monday, Kaur, a former professor of economics, said there was a resurgence of nearly 45 percent in tax revenue.
The total budget for the next fiscal is pegged at Rs.48,594.85 crore.
Kaur said the per capita income of Punjab (at 2004-05 prices) is expected to increase from Rs.43,539 in 2009-10 to Rs.46,182 in 2010-11, indicating a growth rate of 6.07 percent.
“The per capita income at current prices is estimated to increase from Rs.62,153 in 2009-10 to Rs.70,072 in 2010-11, showing an increase of 12.74 percent,” she said.
She added that the outstanding debt of Punjab for 2010-11 (revised estimates) is Rs.69,549 crore. The outstanding debt for the year 2011-12 is estimated at Rs.77,585 crore.
“There is no denying the fact that the state is under heavy debt burden,” Kaur said, but added that steps were being taken to reduce it.
Kaur pointed out that the debt accumulated by Punjab during years of combating terrorism (1982-95) had become a burden for the state as the central government had failed to help the state in this regard.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said that the budget was “progressive, futuristic and holistic”.
Taking a dig at cousin Manpreet Singh Badal, who was the finance minister in the Akali Dal government between 2007-2010, Sukhbir said this was the “best budget” of the entire present tenure of the government.
The opposition Congress, however, described the budget as directionless, anti-poor and anti-farmer.
“There is nothing worthwhile in this budget. Most of the resources mentioned in the budget are actually grants under central schemes,” former Congress chief minister Amarinder Singh said.
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Tags: badal, budget speech, central government, combating terrorism, cousin, crore, debt burden, deputy chief minister, estimates, finance minister, first woman, kaur, manpreet singh, opposition congress, per capita income, punjab state, resurgence, revenue deficit, state assembly, tenure