Haryana Congress MLAs criticize budget's capital expenditure drop

Congress members in Haryana raised concerns on March 17 about the state government's budget for 2025-26. They highlighted a significant decline in capital expenditure. During a discussion in the assembly, Congress MLA BB Batra noted that the planned capital outlay for the upcoming fiscal year is ₹16,164.11 crore. This amount is only 8% of the total budget of ₹2.05 lakh crore. Last year, the government also struggled to spend the allocated capital funds. The budget documents reveal that the planned capital expenditure is less than last year's ₹16,280.94 crore. In reality, only ₹12,752.52 crore was spent on long-term projects like roads and healthcare facilities in 2024-25. Batra compared Haryana’s capital outlay to that of other states, arguing it is much lower. For instance, Gujarat has a capital outlay of ₹71,000 crore, while smaller states like Jharkhand and Rajasthan have outlays of ₹21,248 crore and ₹38,000 crore, respectively. Batra urged the state government to seek a special financial package from the central government. He emphasized that Haryana's leaders should leverage their connections to secure funding. He also pointed out concerns over increasing debt liabilities and stressed that revenue deficits should not be covered by loans. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda challenged the government on the 13% increase in the budget claimed by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. Hooda stated that when properly compared, the increase is actually around 7-8%. Congress MLA Ashok Arora expressed disappointment that the budget did not address inflation. He noted that people had hoped for a reduction in the value-added tax on essential goods like fuel, but those expectations were unmet.