Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Friday presented a Rs 1,54,805 crore budget in the state Assembly. Deciding against levying any fresh taxes, Badal also announced a waiver of Change of Land Use (CLU) charges for two years for new industries coming up outside municipal limits and slashed ‘mandi’ fee on vegetables from 4 to 1%.
The budget earmarked Rs 100 crore for giving 10 lakh free smartphones to the youth, which was one of the main poll promises of the ruling Congress. The delivery of smartphones, however, has been halted due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, Badal said in his fourth budget speech. Asserting that the state’s finances were “back on track”, Badal said the state has reached the point where there is no funding gap in 2020-21 because of the government’s sustained efforts to bringing in fiscal prudence.
In a major announcement, Badal said the retirement age of government employees has been reduced from 60 to 58. “With this, we will be able to provide employment to three to four times the number of people who retire.
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