Chandigarh, March 3 Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday alleged that Haryana is on the verge of a "financial emergency," and claimed that the state's debt has increased by 456 percent over the past 12 years.
Commenting on the state budget proposals presented by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini in the state Assembly on Monday, Surjewala said the "facade" of "deception and deceit" in the "vicious attack on the welfare of people in Haryana in the 2026-27 budget" has been exposed.
In the last 12 years, the state's debt under the BJP government has skyrocketed by 456 percent, he told reporters here.
In 2014, when the BJP came to power, Haryana's total debt was Rs 70,925 crore, but by 2026-27, the total debt would rise to nearly Rs 4 lakh crore, an increase of nearly Rs 3.23 lakh crore in 12 years, he claimed.
"Over the past 12 years, the BJP government has borrowed Rs 74 crore every single day, which is Rs 3.08 crore every hour, and Rs 5,14,000 every minute," he said.
"Now, every citizen of Haryana carries a debt burden of Rs 1,40,911," the Congress leader claimed.
Every year, new loans are taken to repay existing loans. In 2025-26, the BJP government took approximately Rs 98,000 crore in loans and used Rs 64,042 crore of that to repay earlier loans, he said.
"Yet, they cleverly declared in the budget that only Rs 36,376 crore was borrowed. This was exposed by the CAG report," he claimed.
Even the central government's NITI Aayog, in its 'Fiscal Health Index' ranking of 18 states, has placed Haryana at 14th position, even below Bihar, he said.
"Haryana is on the verge of a financial emergency," he alleged.
Chief Minister Saini on Monday presented the budget for 2026-27 with an outlay of Rs 2.23 lakh crore, saying that the state budget reflects the aspirations of every citizen.
Surjewala also claimed that for the upcoming fiscal, the BJP government in Haryana has slashed the budget for many social security schemes.
"After boasting and chest-thumping about increasing old-age pensions for the elderly, the BJP government has drastically reduced the budget for 'Buzurg Samman Pension' by 40.74 per cent in the 2026-27 budget, a cut of Rs 2,730 crore," he said. In the 2025-26 Budget (revised), the budget for Old Age Pensions was Rs 6,700 crore. In the 2026-27 budget, it has been reduced to Rs 3,970 crore, he said.
The BJP government is preparing to massively cut Old Age Pensions for lakhs of elderly citizens, he alleged.
The allocation for widows and destitute women has been cut by Rs 685 crore, he said.
"In the 2025-26 budget (revised), the budget under this head was Rs 2,960 crore. In the 2026-27 budget, it has been slashed to Rs 2,275 crore. The pension for Persons with Disabilities (DIVYANG) has also been cut by Rs 136 crore, from Rs 651 crore in the 2025-26 Budget (revised) to Rs 515 crore in 2026-27," he said.
Even the budget for the Dr Shama Prasad Mookerjee Accident Assistance Scheme has been slashed by 86 percent, from Rs 1.50 crore in the 2025-26 budget to just Rs 20 lakh in the 2026-27 budget, Surjewala said.
"The budget for the Mukhya Mantri Matritva Sahayata Yojana has also been cut by 33 percent, from Rs 30 crore in the 2025-26 budget to Rs 20 crore in the 2026-27 budget," he said.
"Similar cuts have been made across numerous welfare schemes," he said.
"The government's responsibility is public welfare, but the Saini government has turned its back, this is the truth," he said.
The very first promise in BJP's manifesto for the 2024 Haryana Assembly Elections was that 'all women of Haryana would receive Rs 2,100 per month under the Lado Lakshmi Scheme', Surjewala said.
He said that with approximately 95 lakh women in Haryana, this would amount to Rs 23,000 crore annually.
"In Budget 2025-26, Saini made a grand announcement of Rs 5,000 crore for the Lado Lakshmi scheme and flashed TV and newspapers advertisements and hoardings to claim credit. Shockingly, budget 2026-27 has revealed that 86 per cent of that money was never allotted or released," he said.
"Only 14 per cent, that is Rs 728 crore, was actually disbursed under this scheme in 2025-26 Budget. This time (Budget 2026-27), the government has again made boisterous claims by announcing Rs 6,500 crore, but it is nothing except a web of deception," Surjewala alleged.
Besides, every month the beneficiaries under the scheme are required to give 'life certificate' while in normal course the proof of being alive is sought annually, he said, calling such the move impractical.
He said that in the budget no mention of taking over Haryana's share of SYL water from Punjab has been made.
On unemployment issue, the Congress leader said, "According to a CMIE report, the unemployment rate in Haryana is 37 per cent. Even according to the Modi government's own Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Haryana's unemployment rate was 15.4 percent as of September 2025. Yet the word "employment" does not find a mention in Budget 2026-27."
He further said that what is strange is that 2 lakh government jobs are lying vacant in Haryana, yet the vacancies are not being fulfilled.
On the new Act Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB G RAM G) Act, guaranteeing 125 days of employment instead of 100 earlier, he questioned the Centre's claims of extending guarantees.
"In last 12 years, how many days of work have they given. When they could not even give 100 days of work, how will they give 125 days of work. Moreover, it was only under the MGNREGA that there was a guarantee of right to work. But they abolished MGNREGA," he said.