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No new taxes, sops in Punjab Budget

Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

An unusual scene: Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal seeks blessings from Leader of Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal after presenting the Budget in the Assembly on Monday.

CHANDIGARH: While the “model code of conduct” for the ensuing elections to Panchayati Raj institutions in Punjab due from April 7 this year prevented Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal from announcing any new concessions in his second Budget in the Assembly on Monday, he deferred levying any new taxes to bring the State’s economy out of the doldrums.

For the 2008-09 fiscal, Mr. Badal announced an Annual Plan of Rs.6210 crore, which is nearly Rs.1100 crore more than last year.

The total size of the Budget is Rs.31,634.61 crore which includes revenue expenditure of Rs.25,261.20 crore, capital expenditure of Rs.3,482.94 crore, net public debt amounting to Rs.3,862.10 crore and net loans of Rs.118.46 crore.

The Minister, whose speech was punctuated with couplets from Urdu poets, announced major increases in allocations for Agriculture, Rural Development, Energy and Transport.

Appealing to the employees whose salaries account for consumption of a major part of the total revenue receipts, to perform beyond the call of duty, Mr. Badal said that the State’s economy, which did not match the targets set by the Planning Commission during the tenth Five Year Plan, had begun to show signs of recovery.

The Minister said that the Planning Commission had indicated a target of 5.9 per cent growth for Punjab during the 11th Plan against 9 per cent for the national economy. He said that after having slipped drastically, the per capita income of the people had witnessed a slight improvement last year.

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No new taxes, sops in Punjab Budget

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