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Mere artful trickery to achieve desired ends: Sukhu on budget
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu the budget lacks a vision for the employment sector and no reasonable thinking has been made in this direction
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday termed the Union Budget a disappointment, saying that neither anything was projected for the state nor there was any allocation for expansion of rail infrastructure and national highways.
He said the budget was contrary to the expectations of the common masses. “The Union Budget is mere an artful trickery to achieve the desired ends. There is nothing in this budget for any section of middle-class, poor, youths and farmers,” he said, adding that nothing has been said in the budget to control rising inflation and unemployment.
The chief minster said that people were still waiting for ‘Achhe Din’. “The central government has lost the only opportunity to fulfil its promises before the Lok Sabha elections slated to be held next year. The budget lacks a vision for the employment sector and no reasonable thinking has been made in this direction. There is no mention of urban employment. Farmers’ loan limit has been raised, which will further push them into a debt trap. There was no announcement on subsidies on farming tools or fertilisers as well,” he added.
Sukhu said no special grant has been announced for the states under debt burden. “We have inherited a debt burden of around ₹75,000 crore from the previous government. There is no mention of reimbursement of GST since June 2022 in the budget to the small hill states,” he added.
“I went through the proceedings and proposals made by the previous BJP government in November to the Union finance minster, but was astonished that despite this, no heed was paid to the demands,” the CM said.
Directionless, says HP Cong chief
Himachal Congress president Pratibha Singh said it (budget) will neither improve the country’s economy nor achieve the growth rate. “It is completely directionless, due to which employment and inflation will increase in the country,” she added.
Pratibha described the budget as “anti-people” and said in today’s era of inflation, an unsuccessful attempt has been made to woo the employees.
She said the tax exemption of up to ₹7 lakh to the employees should have been increased to at least ₹12 lakh.
Pratibha said special schemes should have been given in the budget for the development of hill states like Himachal.
“Even agriculture and horticulture sectors have also been completely ignored. There is no proposal in the budget for the development of railways in Himachal, which is very sad. This budget has once again disappointed the people of the state,” she added.
