AAP govt has burdened common man with new taxes of Rs 12,500 crore: SAD

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday asserted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had burdened the common man with new taxes of Rs 12,500 crore even as it had not undertaken any new infrastructure project or social welfare scheme to justify the unprecedented Rs 1 lakh crore debt in the last two-and-half-years.

It demanded probe by a central government agency on how debt taken by the AAP government was being spent.

SAD senior leader Parambans Singh Romana said in a press conference here that gross financial mismanagement, misappropriation and huge advertisement expenditure on projecting Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal across the country besides money spent on hiring helicopters and aircraft for campaigning in other states was responsible for this state of affairs.

He asserted Punjab had been pushed into bankruptcy with the state recording the second highest debt to GSDP ratio of 46.81 per cent.

Romana said the AAP government had imposed taxes on every section of society including VAT on petrol and diesel three times (Rs 600 crore), removing power subsidy (Rs 1,800 crore), increasing power rates (Rs 7,800 crore), increasing collector rates (Rs 2,000 crore), increasing bus fares (Rs 150 crore), doubling motor vehicle tax (Rs 100 crore), introducing green tax on old vehicles (Rs 100 crore) and loans (Rs 1,500 crore).

He added despite imposing huge taxes and levies in the form of increasing service charges in Suvidha Kendras and hike in license fee for driving and arms licenses, the government had nothing to show by way of any achievement. “I challenge Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to tell one new infrastructure project taken up by his government or debate the closure of all social welfare schemes by the AAP government. I am ready to debate on this issue as well as the acute financial crisis facing the state at any stage of his choice”.

Asserting that unlike the SAD which had built schools, colleges, rural roads, highways and airports besides augmenting Mandis and irrigation facilities, the AAP government was spending only seven per cent of its total borrowings on capital expenditure as per the latest CAG report.

He said the CAG report had also pointed out that Rs 736 crore collected on account of cess and levies had not been deposited in government accounts, which was also a matter for a thorough probe.