West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget 2024-25 presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, calling it “politically motivated, directionless, anti-people, and lacking vision”.
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Banerjee also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of making false promises during elections and not fulfilling them in their budgets.
She said, “They make tall claims and make promises during elections. But after they get votes, they forget Darjeeling, Kalimpong...People in the hills of Darjeeling should remember this. Let Sikkim get things, we have no objection but keeping Darjeeling deprived is not right."
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Alleging the budget to be filled with political biases, the Bengal CM also said, “This Budget is anti-people, anti-poor and not for the common people. This is a Budget to appease one party.”
The TMC criticised the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who presented her seventh consecutive Union Budget during the Budget session of Parliament for not including the Ghatal Master Plan in her budget speech.
{{/usCountry}}The TMC criticised the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who presented her seventh consecutive Union Budget during the Budget session of Parliament for not including the Ghatal Master Plan in her budget speech.
{{/usCountry}}The master plan is aimed at managing floods in low lying areas of Paschim and Purba Medinipur districts, and this non-allocation of funds was described as "nothing but a vindictive political attitude", by the Ghatal's TMC MP Deepak Adhikari.
Sitharaman listed nine key priorities for the government which included productivity and resilience in agriculture, employment and skilling, inclusive human resource development and social justice, manufacturing and services, urban development, energy security, infrastructure, innovation, research and development, and next-generation reforms in her budget speech.
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A proposal for the creation of employment for about 4.1 crore youth over the next five years was put forth in the speech allocating ₹2 lakh crore. A new tax regime with increased standard deductions and revised tax rates for salaried individuals was also announced to foster economic growth, simplify tax law and promote compliance.
A total of 1000 industrial training institutes are set to be upgraded to upskill 20 lakh youth over five years, with a proposed fund allocation of ₹1.48 crores, reported ANI.
(with inputs from news agencies)