Terming the union budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as a flop, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Pritam Singh said that people of Uttarakhand have got a step motherly treatment in it.
Reacting to the budget, he said that the people of Uttarakhand were hoping that a double engine government would provide green bonus to the state in lieu of the environmental services provided by it but they were disappointed. He said that there is no mention of rail projects and metro in Uttarakhand and there appears no relief for the MSME sector which is in shambles. Singh said that Uttarakhand is dependent on tourism and the tourism sector of the state grappling with the pandemic was hoping to get a booster package but here too the hopes were dashed.
The PCC president said that the Uttarakhand was facing a loss of Rs 2200 crore for GST and during the pandemic too it faced additional loss of Rs 4000 crore and in such a situation all the hopes of relief were dashed in the budget. He said that the BJP government is consistently talking about doubling the income of farmers from the last seven years but there is no mention in the budget as to how the income would be doubled. He said that the talk of doubling the income appears hollow when one looks at 9.5 percent revenue loss and steep increase in the fiscal deficit.
Singh said that the provision of Rs 40000 Crore for infrastructure development is very less for 6.50 lakh villages of the country. He said that the government has given a setback to the middle class by offering no change in the income tax slabs.
Tuesday, 02 February 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
