Punjab Congress SC Department Condemns Brutal Lathi Charge on Safai Karamcharis, Gives Government Two-Day Ultimatum Chandigarh 24 July ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : The Punjab Pradesh Congress Scheduled Caste Department has strongly condemned the brutal lathi charge on protesting safai karamcharis in Barnala, calling it an inhuman assault on the dignity, constitutional rights and self-respect of Dalit workers. The Department alleged that, on the orders of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Police used excessive force against peacefully protesting safai karamcharis, leaving several injured. The Department demanded the immediate suspension and strict legal action against all police officers responsible for the brutality. It issued a two-day ultimatum to the Bhagwant Mann government, warning that if action is not taken within 48 hours, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Scheduled Caste Department will launch a statewide protest across Punjab. It also announced that it will move the Punjab and H...
Bhagwant Mann Government Has Pushed Punjab Into a Debt Swamp, Rs. 13,000 Crore Fresh Loan in a Single Quarter : Tarun Chugh
Bhagwant Mann Government Has Pushed Punjab Into a Debt Swamp, Rs. 13,000 Crore Fresh Loan in a Single Quarter : Tarun Chugh
Punjab's Debt Touches Rs. 4.47 Lakh Crore Under AAP, Nearly Rs. 1.5 Lakh Burden on Every Punjabi : Chugh
Pushing Powercom Into Rs. 10,000 Crore Market Borrowing Without a State Guarantee Is Proof of the Government's Bankruptcy : Chugh
Chandigarh 24 July ( Ranjeet Singh Dhaliwal ) : Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh launched a sharp attack on the Bhagwant Mann government, saying that Punjab is no longer running on debt — it is running on the interest of that debt. He said the state government is set to raise Rs. 13,000 crore from the market between July and September, with Rs. 5,500 crore in July, Rs. 3,500 crore in August and Rs. 4,000 crore in September. Of this, Rs. 3,000 crore has already been raised in July and another tranche is scheduled for next week. Chugh said this means the Mann government is loading an average of Rs. 141 crore of fresh debt on Punjab every single day, and this money is not going into a new school, hospital or road, but into servicing the interest on old loans.
Chugh said the numbers expose every claim made by the Mann government. Between April and September alone, the state's borrowing will touch Rs. 18,142 crore, and by the end of this financial year Punjab's outstanding debt will stand at Rs. 4.47 lakh crore. He pointed out that of the Rs. 2.37 lakh crore all states and Union Territories together expect to raise through bond sales this quarter, Punjab alone accounts for nearly 5 per cent, even though Punjab makes up less than 2.5 per cent of the country's population. Chugh said Rs. 28,755 crore will go into interest payments alone in 2026-27, which means 23 rupees out of every 100 rupees the government earns goes straight into servicing debt. On a population of three crore, every child born in Punjab today is born carrying a debt of roughly Rs. 1.5 lakh.
Tarun Chugh described the Powercom development as the most serious of all, saying that for the first time in its history, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited is raising Rs. 10,000 crore from the debt market — and that too without any guarantee from the Punjab government. He said this is the ultimate certificate of Punjab's financial credibility: when the Mann government itself refuses to stand guarantee for its own corporation, what confidence can the market possibly place in that government. Chugh asked how the same Powercom that presented itself as a financially sound and profit-making entity before the PSERC barely six months ago has suddenly landed in the market seeking Rs. 10,000 crore. He said experts are clearly stating that to mobilise this amount, PSPCL may have to leverage its fixed assets including land — which means the Mann government has now come down to mortgaging Punjab's own land.
Chugh said the Bhagwant Mann government has created this crisis at Powercom with its own hands. The government does not release the power subsidy on time, government departments have not paid their electricity bills for years, and the cost of power purchase keeps climbing. He said a power subsidy bill of Rs. 15,550 crore and a Rs. 1,000-per-month scheme for women costing roughly Rs. 9,300 crore a year may sound good in announcements, but the AAP government has no plan whatsoever to earn a single rupee for the treasury. Chugh noted that Punjab's power employees had to take mass leave and come out on the streets on July 21 and 22 — this is the condition of the very government that once called itself the government of a power revolution.
Tarun Chugh said what Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated in Jalandhar on July 17 now stands proven by the government's own documents — debt is being raised in the name of Punjab and a large portion of the budget is going into servicing it, while those running the state government enjoy the benefits of that money. He said Punjab's score on the NITI Aayog Fiscal Health Index is the lowest in the country and Punjab has become the second most debt-ridden state in India by debt-to-GSDP ratio. Chugh said Punjab's debt stood at around Rs. 2.1 lakh crore in 2017, and nearly Rs. 1.5 lakh crore has been added in just four and a half years of AAP rule. He said the people of Punjab will demand a full account of this in 2027, because the Mann government has burnt crores on advertisements and built a mountain of debt in the name of generations yet to come.
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