Punjab saddled with debt due to previous govts: CM Mann

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday accused the previous governments of pushing the state into debt, and said the AAP dispensation will inquire where the money was used and make recovery.

”Previous governments have left a debt of Rs 3 lakh crore on Punjab. But where has this been used? We will investigate and make recovery, because it is people’s money,” a tweet in Punjabi from the party’s state unit said while quoting the chief minister.

In the run up to the Punjab Assembly polls in February, AAP leaders had targeted successive governments in the state for allegedly pushing the state into a debt trap.

Ahead of the polls, senior AAP leader Raghav Chadha had accused the previous Akali-BJP and the then Congress government in Punjab of pushing the state into debt.

Every child born in Punjab has a debt of Rs one lakh on his or her head, Chadha had then claimed.

“The Congress and the Badal governments have made Punjab a debtor of Rs 3 lakh crore in the last 50 years. With a population of three crore, today every individual in Punjab has a debt of Rs 1 lakh,” Chadha had said. The AAP wrested power from the Congress in Punjab by winning 92 of the 117 Assembly seats.