‘Unrealistic’, ‘khyali pulao’: Opp slams budget, asks why it was kept a secret

The Opposition parties in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on Tuesday termed the Rs 2,200 crore budget presented by the civic body for the fiscal 2023-24 as ‘unrealistic’. Leading the charge of the Opposition in the House, AAP leader Yogesh Dhingra on Tuesday said that the budget presented was almost four-times that of the Grant-in aid (Rs […]

After the Mayor finished reading out his budget speech in English, AAP councillor Prem Lata asked as to why the same wasn't read out in in Hindi or Punjabi. (Express Photo)

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The Opposition parties in Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on Tuesday termed the Rs 2,200 crore budget presented by the civic body for the fiscal 2023-24 as ‘unrealistic’.

Leading the charge of the Opposition in the House, AAP leader Yogesh Dhingra on Tuesday said that the budget presented was almost four-times that of the Grant-in aid (Rs 555 crore) that was provided and was ‘unrealistic’. Dhingra also questioned why the budget was kept a secret.

“Earlier, the budget was always distributed among all councillors so that deliberations could be held. This time, however, the budget was kept a secret.

Moreover, whatever amount we have got as Grant-in aid will be only able to pay the salaries and other committed liabilities of the civic body,” Dhingra said in the House, adding that the budget reached the councillors on Tuesday and there wasn’t enough time for them to study it.

To this, Chandigarh Mayor Anup Gupta replied that in the fiscal 2017-18, they had got Rs 317 crore as Grant-in aid. “This fiscal, it is more than Rs 550 crore. How can that be meager?”

Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh Gabi said that when all other heads under the civic body had seen an increase in allocation then why was the Grant-in aid for the municipal corporation not hiked proportionally.

“As compared to last fiscal, there was only a hike of around Rs 12 crore in the budget allocated under Grant-in aid for Chandigarh Municipal Corporation this year,” Gabi said.

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BJP councillor, Harpreet Babla, however, countered this claim by stating that even if it was a little, the Grant-in aid had still increased as compared to 20 years ago. To this Gurpreet Singh retorted, “I agree that madam (Harpreet Babla) has joined a new party but it doesn’t mean that she should forget what a realistic budget is and how it works for the people.”

Aam Aadmi Party councillor Prem Lata later chimed in and stated that “this budget is just a khyali pulao (daydream) and people are being fooled.
Shiromani Akali Dal’s lone councillor, Hardeep Singh, said before the commencement of the General House meeting on Tuesday that this was the first time that the budget would also be presented in Punjabi.

After the Mayor finished reading out his budget speech in English, AAP councillor Prem Lata asked as to why the same wasn’t read out in in Hindi or Punjabi. To this, the mayor said that copies of teh budget in all three languages had been had been distributed among the councillors

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