Chandigarh, March 9 -- With an eye on the state assembly elections due early next year, Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Sunday announced a cash transfer scheme to give up to Rs.1,500 per month financial assistance to adult women in the state, in his budget for the 2026-27 financial year, along with a raft of other proposals aimed at boosting growth and improving rural and urban infrastructure as well as sports facilities.

Presenting a Rs.2.60-lakh crore budget, Cheema named it as "saari guarantiyan puri karan wala budget" (guarantee-fulfilling budget), implying that all promises made to the people have been fulfilled.

The centrepiece of the budget, which the finance minister described as a tribute to the "mothers and daug...