Panjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema announced that the state’s total revenue collection from Value-Added Tax, Central Sales Tax, Goods and Services Tax (GST), Punjab State Development Tax, and excise surpassed USD 3.5B in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. In 2023-24, the revenue for the entire fiscal year was USD 3.2B. According to Cheema, net GST revenue for December 2024 increased by 28.36% year-on-year, rising to roughly USD 2.3B from USD 182M in December 2023, while excise revenue rose by 21.31%, reaching nearly USD 102M versus about USD 84.6 in December 2023. Meanwhile, Panjab police on 31 Dec announced that they busted 12 terror modules and arrested 66 terrorists in 2024. According to Inspector General of Police Sukhchain Singh Gill, they also apprehended 559 gangsters in 2024. A total of 185 kg of heroin, 24 pistols, one AK-47 rifle, and one IED were seized, along with USD 4.8K in drug money dropped via drones, and at least 513 drone sightings were recorded. Police also confiscated drug money worth approximately USD 1.7M, forfeited 531 properties valued at around USD 39M, and dismantled 198 gangster modules, arresting 559 suspects while recovering 482 weapons, 102 vehicles, and USD 249K in illicit funds. The data is from govt. figures, not corroborated from any other source. When seen in the context of data on the website South Asian Terrorism Portal which claims 92 terrorists were arrested in 2024, the number of terrorists arrested is 30 times those in 2015, double those in 2022. This indicates a spike in alleged terrorism in Panjab which is not the case.
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