Chandigarh, Mar 26 (PTI) Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema announced a Rs 10 lakh health insurance cover for all families, steps to tackle drug menace and a 'Rangla Punjab Vikas scheme' for holistic development in the Rs 2.36-lakh-crore state budget for 2025-26 presented in the Assembly on Wednesday.

With a theme of 'Badalda Punjab' (transforming Punjab), Cheema kept the focus of his budget on the health, education and other sectors in the fourth budget of the AAP government in Punjab.

According to budget documents, the state's outstanding debt has been pegged at Rs 4.17 lakh crore (Rs 4,17,136 crore) for FY 2025-26 as against revised estimates of Rs 3.82 lakh crore (Rs 3,82,934.98 crore) for 2024-25.

In his nearly two-hour-long address, Cheema also announced a loan waiver for the Scheduled Caste beneficiaries who defaulted on loans availed from Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation (PSCFC) and reducing service fee for availing government services at their doorsteps from Rs 120 to Rs 50.

Facing flak from the opposition over not keeping its poll promise, the budget did not find any mention of giving monthly income of Rs 1,000 to women, which was one of the key promises of the AAP before coming to power.

Replying to a question, Cheema said the state government will soon launch it. "Different departments including finance and social are conducting surveys for it," he further said.

Calling the state budget the 'Badalda Punjab roadmap', Cheema, while presenting the budget document in the House, said, " I propose a total budget expenditure of Rs 2,36,080 crore for FY 2025-26." The budget estimated revenue deficit and fiscal deficit at Rs 23,957 crore and Rs 34,201 crore, respectively, for the next financial year.

The budget proposed Rs 9,992 crore as power subsidy for the agriculture sector.

Acknowledging that the problem of drugs was the biggest threat to the progress and prosperity of Punjab, Cheema also noted that the bulk of the drugs are coming from across the border.

Announcing steps to check the smuggling of narcotics, Cheema announced the state government will establish a second line of defense at the border by deploying 5,000 home guards alongside the BSF.

He further said the government will deploy the most advanced and effective anti-drone systems to track and neutralize the sophisticated cross-border drones being used to drop drugs and arms inside Punjab.

"I am allocating a budget of Rs 110 crore towards these initiatives next year," he said.

In another initiative, he said the government has decided to carry out a first ever 'drug census' in Punjab next year.

"This Census will cover every household of Punjab and will collect data to understand the prevalence of drugs, usage of de-addiction centers, etc., besides collecting data on socio-economic status of the people of Punjab. We will use this data to craft an effective and scientific strategy to eradicate the problem of drugs within the next 1-2 years. Our government proposes to spend Rs 150 crore on this initiative," he said.

On the health front, Cheema noted free and quality healthcare should be available as a matter of right to every citizen of India - irrespective of whether they are rich or poor.

Cheema announced to extend the state health insurance scheme to make it universal and cover all the 65 lakh families of Punjab.

"There will be no bar or discrimination - rural or urban, rich or poor, everyone can participate in this scheme," he said.

"The second big decision is that we are extending the insurance cover for all the families of Punjab to Rs 10 lakh per annum. This includes those enrolled in the central government scheme too, they will get an additional top-up cover of Rs 5 lakh from the state government.

A sum of Rs 778 crore has been allocated for this purpose, he said.

Cheema said so far, 45 lakh families of Punjab are enrolled in government health insurance schemes of which 16 lakh families are covered under the Central government's Ayushman Bharat Yojana and the remaining 29 lakh families are covered under the Punjab government's Mukh Mantri Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana. The insurance coverage for the entire family is only Rs 5 lakh per annum in these schemes.

Announcing the 'Rangla Punjab Vikas Scheme'--a new initiative dedicated towards restoring the lost glory of Punjab and ensure holistic development of the state.

"The fund will be administered by the district commissioners (DCs) and will be spent based on the recommendations of MLAs, community organizations, citizen groups and public-spirited citizens.

This fund will be a huge enabler in ensuring all-round development of all our districts across all sectors such as construction and repair of roads and bridges, street-lights, clinics, hospitals, schools, water, sanitation etc," he said.

I am allocating Rs 585 crore (Rs 5 crore per constituency) for this scheme," he said.

Cheema further announced a new initiative, Khed-da Punjab, Badalda Punjab' initiative, under which the government will promote sports at the grassroots level by providing playgrounds and indoor gyms in every village of Punjab.

"We will also setup 3,000 indoor gyms throughout Punjab so that our youth even in villages have the best infrastructure to stay fit and participate in competitive sports," he said.

Recognizing 'pinds' (villages) as the heart and soul of Punjab, Cheema announced "Badalde Pind, Badalda Punjab", a new initiative to uplift the infrastructure in all 12,581 villages across the state in the next two years.

The works will include cleaning and rejuvenation of village ponds, setting up sewage treatment systems, construction of village playgrounds etc.

The finance minister also announced to launch "Mukh Mantri Street Light Yojana" for installation of 2.5 lakh street lights in the next year throughout Punjab.

To incentivize crop diversification, a new scheme covering three districts namely Bathinda, Kapurthala and Gurdaspur is being introduced for Kharif maize crop, he said.

"A total of about 21,000 hectares will be diversified from paddy to kharif maize to encourage the production of ethanol. The farmers will get a subsidy of Rs 17,500 per hectare for switching to Kharif maize cultivation," he said.

Cheema said to promote natural farming practices, a new initiative which will include awareness programmes, cluster formation, incentives is proposed in 2025-26, initially covering Amritsar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh (S.B.S) Nagar, Rupnagar, S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali), and Hoshiarpur districts.

He also announced setting up a state-of-the-art shrimp processing unit to support shrimp farming in waterlogged areas.

For the education sector, Cheema proposed Rs 17,975 crore, which is around 12 per cent of the total expenditure.

Cheema also proposed to construct a heritage street and auditorium at Shaheed Bhagat Singh (S.B.S) Nagar at a cost of Rs 54 crore.

In the budget, Cheema projected total revenue receipts at Rs 1,11,740 crore, of which the Own Tax Revenue accounts for Rs 63,250 crore.

The share of central taxes has been pegged at Rs 25,703 crore and grant-in-aid from the Centre at Rs 10,576 crore, said Cheema.

He also proposed an allocation of Rs 233 crore to modernize and upgrade police infrastructure which includes construction and renovation of police complexes, purchase of land for police lines, police stations, and housing for the police personnel, etc. PTI CHS SUN VSD MR MR