Saini

The chief minister said some Haryana Congress MLAs have claimed that the state is heavily in debt, whereas the reality is different.

Rejecting the Opposition’s “looming debt crisis” claim, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said on Tuesday that a comparison with Punjab clearly shows Haryana’s financial position is “significantly stronger and more balanced”, and that a false narrative is being deliberately spread to mislead people.

During the discussion on the Haryana Budget in the Assembly, the chief minister said in 2004-05, when the Congress had governments in both Haryana and Punjab, Haryana’s total budget stood at Rs 15,526 crore.

“In contrast, Punjab’s budget was Rs 25,627 crore; meaning, at that time, Punjab’s budget was significantly larger than Haryana’s,” he said.

Turning to the government debt figures for the same period under the Congress’s regimes, Saini said, “Haryana’s total debt amounted to Rs 17,347 crore, which represented approximately 112 per cent of its budget.

Conversely, Punjab’s total debt stood at Rs 37,796 crore, amounting to roughly 147 per cent of its budget.

This implies that even then, Punjab’s financial position was under greater strain compared to that of Haryana.”
The chief minister said that in the current situation, this disparity becomes even more evident.

“In the budget for 2026-27, Haryana’s total budget stands at Rs 2,23,658 crore, with its total debt amounting to approximately 175 per cent of the budget.

On the other hand, Punjab’s total budget is merely Rs 1,80,437 crore, yet its total debt stands at approximately 248 per cent of its budget.”
Rs 100-crore provision for SYL canal construction: Saini
Saini said the state government made a provision of Rs 100 crore for the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal in the Budget 2026-27 proposals, and therefore, the Opposition’s allegation that there is no mention of the SYL canal in the budget is completely baseless.

Saini said, “During the discussion on the budget, Congress members said they had been reading the budget speech for three days and found no mention of the SYL canal.

They also claimed that in nearly 60 years of Haryana’s formation, there had never been a budget without a reference to the SYL canal.”
“In the 2026-27 Budget documents, Volume III, which presents detailed estimates of capital expenditure, a provision of Rs 100 crore has been clearly made under the sub-head for the construction of the SYL canal on page number 204,” the chief minister said.

He further said that as per the records of budget speeches during the Congress tenure from 2005-14, the SYL canal was mentioned only in 2005-06 and 2006-07.

“In the remaining eight budget speeches, the term ‘SYL’ was not mentioned at all.

Moreover, out of those ten years, only in 2013-14 and 2014-15, there was a provision of merely Rs 10 lakh made for the construction of the SYL canal.

In the rest of the eight years, not even a single rupia was allocated under this sub-head.”
Saini said the present government, on the other hand, has been consistently making a provision of Rs 100 crore every year from 2016-17 to 2025-26.

Saini said in paragraph 36 of the Governor’s address delivered on February 20, it has also been stated: “My government is fully committed to protecting Haryana’s rights over its waters.

We are fully committed to the construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal.”
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