Stamp,registration duties up 49 per cent

“This is because we have been able to put in place a very effective system of tax collection. Targets have been fixed for departments and e-filing ensures that there is complete transparency in the system,” said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

He added that from Rs 11,000 crore,which is this year’s revenue tax receipts,the state is expected to earn Rs 14,000 crore from excise alone. “For 65 years we earned only Rs 6,500 in excise each year and in five years we have jumped to Rs 14,000 crore. This is because we have given all the stakeholders a level playing field. We do not play favourites unlike the Congress,” said Sukhbir.

There has also been a sharp increase in grants-in-aid from the Centre this fiscal. Since last year,the state has witnessed a 70 per cent hike in Central grants. By December 2009,the state had got only Rs 975 crore from the Centre as grant-in-aid while till December 2010 the state had received Rs1,665 crore as grant in aid.

Compared to earlier years,the state is however losing heavily in lotteries. Since April 1,2010 the government of India has under the Lotteries Regulation Rules,2010 imposed strict conditions on the sale of lotteries by states. While banning the sale of single,double and triple digit lotteries the government of India has laid down several conditions regulating the sale of other lotteries

Since last year,Punjab has lost almost Rs 1,500 crore in lotteries. The revenue from lotteries in 2009 was almost Rs 3,791 crore while this year during the same period the revenue generated from lotteries is Rs 2,210 crore.

“Other than lotteries,we have also absorbed what we had to dole out in implementing the pay commission recommendations. While the entire country and the world were reeling under an economic crisis,Punjab was the only state which was growing,” added Sukhbir Singh Badal.

On the expenditure side the state has registered a big hike in the expenditure on police. From Rs 1,337 crore in 2009 the government has already spent almost rs 1,640 crore on the police in 2010.

The amount the state has spent on education this year has also increased from Rs 2,400 crore last year to almost Rs 2,800 crore till December 2010 — an increase of almost 16 per cent. The state’s expenditure on health has also increased by almost 25 per cent this fiscal but the total amount spent on health facilities remains low. By December 2010 the state has spent only Rs 754 crore for medical and public health. Despite the substantial increase in revenue the state’s balance sheetshas however gone totally awry as there has been a 52 per cent increase in what the state spends in giving pension and retirement benefits to its employees. In 2009,for instance,the state spent Rs 2,388 crore under this head,however up to December this fiscal the state has spent almost Rs 3,650 crore. The end result is that the state’s fiscal deficit continues to hover around Rs 4,000 crore.