CHANDIGARH: As various political parties are competing with each other in promising freebies and subsidies in the run-up to the February 20 state assembly polls in Punjab, which is already reeling under nearly Rs 3 lakh crore debt, top economists are of the view that politicians must also explain the source of fund for such giveaways.
Though the political parties are mum on the exact amount of financial burden that the already bleeding state exchequer would be forced to bear to distribute freebies promised in their manifestos, economists believe that it would not be less than Rs 20,000 crore per annum.
