Punjab is in an economic morass and debt trap, said the White Paper on State finances presented in the State Assembly, in Chandigarh on June 25. The document presented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema blamed previous governments for the fiscal mess.
According to the document tabled two days ahead of the presentation of the State Budget in the House, "Today, Punjab is in an economic morass and debt trap." "The previous governments, instead of applying necessary correctives, continued to slip into fiscal profligacy, as evident from unchecked increase in unproductive revenue expenditure, freebies and unmerited subsidies, virtual collapse in the capital and social sector investments vital for future growth and non-realisation of its potential tax and non-tax revenues," it said.
