Punjab Budget: First-ever drug census to cover every household

Chandigarh: Taking the war on eradicating drug addiction to the next level, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema on Wednesday informed the Assembly that a first-ever drug census will be carried out in the state that will cover every household to understand the prevalence of drugs, usage of de-addiction centres, etc.

It will collect data on the socio-economic status of people.

“This will help create an effective and scientific strategy to eradicate the problem of drugs,” Cheema said in his Budget speech with a thrust to strengthen the government’s ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virudh’ campaign.

Besides the drugs, the emphasis of the AAP government’s Budget is on education, healthcare, fiscal prudence, and the welfare of farmers.

Laying a Budget for Rs 2.36 lakh crore, Cheema, in his speech, said, “This is a futuristic budget and is a Badalda Punjab Roadmap for 2025-26.”

“We are moving towards fiscal consolidation. This year, the revenue and fiscal deficit will be 2.51 per cent and 3.84 per cent by the end of 2025-26,” he said.

In a first, the government proposed to establish the second line of defence along the India-Pakistan border by deploying 5,000 home guards alongside the Border Security Force (BSF).

For the industry, whose share to the state’s economy is 27 per cent, Finance Minister Cheema said, “Industry will get additional incentives of Rs 250 crore.”

He proposed to set up playgrounds and indoor gyms in every village for the youth to shun drugs. “Facilities to be provided in villages for locally popular sports. On a pilot basis, 87 playgrounds have been already built in Tarn Taran district.” He said 3,000 indoor gyms are to be set up.

Responding to the Budget, state Education Minister Harjot Bains said it “gives a historic boost by allocating Rs 979 crore to sports, the highest ever in Punjab’s history”.

He said the allocation is more than what the Akali-BJP and the Congress spent in 10 years combined.

IANS