Panchkula (Haryana) [India], March 6 (HBTV): Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini reaffirmed his government’s commitment to women empowerment during a pre-budget consultation meeting held on Monday.

Speaking to reporters after chairing the meeting, CM Saini stated, ‘All MLAs participated in today’s pre-budget meeting and shared their suggestions. Our government is pro-women empowerment, and we prioritized the inputs of women MLAs. We also invited farmers, youth from startups, and representatives from various sectors, incorporating their suggestions into the discussion.’

The meeting, held in Sector-1, Panchkula, was organized to gather recommendations for the 2025-26 state budget. A key highlight was the Chief Minister’s decision to first allow women MLAs to present their suggestions, with Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal being the first to speak.

More than 25 MLAs provided inputs during the first session, while the second session is scheduled for tomorrow. Opposition MLAs expressed appreciation for the continuation of the tradition, initiated by former Chief Minister Manohar Lal, of seeking inputs before finalizing the budget.

A notable aspect of this assembly was that 40 of the 90 MLAs in the 14th Vidhan Sabha are first-time legislators. They expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister for providing an open forum to share their suggestions.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Rajesh Khullar, and senior officials, including Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and Heads of Departments. All recommendations from the MLAs were recorded, and the Chief Minister assured that valuable suggestions would be incorporated into the budget.

CM Saini highlighted that similar pre-budget consultations had previously been held in Faridabad, Gurugram, Panipat, and Hisar. Last year, 407 suggestions were included in the budget, and this year, approximately 10,000 suggestions have been received from startups, women entrepreneurs, self-help groups, and women representatives.

‘The upcoming budget will reflect the aspirations of the state’s 2.80 crore people,’ the Chief Minister assured.

Additionally, some MLAs raised demands for the establishment of an MLA Vikas Nidhi Fund and requested an increase in the development fund limit for MLAs to INR 5 crore over five years.

(ANI)