Budget reflects Punjab govt' s commitment to people' s welfare CM Mann

Chandigarh, Mar 6 (PTI) Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday said the 2024-25 Punjab budget reflects his government's commitment towards the welfare of people and the state's growth.
    Speaking in the state assembly, Mann termed the budget a "sacred document" and said it will act as a catalyst for creating a progressive, prosperous and vibrant Punjab.
    Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema had on Tuesday presented a budget of Rs 2.04 lakh crore.
    Mann said in a healthy democracy, suggestions and ideas of elected representatives are always welcome but undue criticism to attract media attention is unfortunate.
    He credited AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal with transforming politics and putting the common man on the agenda of political parties.
    Instead of election manifestos, political parties are now giving "guarantees" of welfare to the people, the chief minister said.
    Mann said he has always been a votary of making party manifestos legal documents so that they cannot dupe common people.
    People have been repeatedly "misled" by promising them "achhe din", said the chief minister, targeting the BJP.
    The Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has copied Kejriwal's vision by introducing guarantees, he said.
    Kejriwal had brought a paradigm shift in politics by introducing value-based politics and rejecting divisive politics, he added.
    Mann also shared details of recruitment of more than 40,000 people in various government departments and urged the speaker to provide them to the opposition members.
    Earlier, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa had sought department-wise details of state government recruitment.
    Taking on opposition parties, Mann said they are unnecessarily raising a hue and cry over the issue, even though they never gave government jobs to youth when they were in power.
    The opposition has only mastered the art of running away from core issues, he said.
    The opposition, particularly the Congress, has a habit of acting irresponsibly and staging walkouts to hog media attention. People are seeing this "irresponsible behaviour" of Congress leaders, he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)