Treadmill budget silent on jobs & infrastructure: Oppn

“The state budget is empty. It seems that the budget was prepared in 30 minutes. It has no provision for employment generation or address burning issues such as unemployment and infrastructural development. It has failed to address the aspiration of the people,” said Adhikari.

The BJP MLA added that there is no mention of industrial development for the state in the budget. “There is no mention of setting up of heavy industries. Also there is no mention of reopening of closed factories in the state. There is no word about the Tajpur port and the future of that project. This once again proves that the state government has no big industries to offer for the people,” added Adkhikari. The CPI (M) on the other hand termed the budget as “pro-people”.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said the announcement of the additional DA was meagre in nature.

“It appears that the DA announcement was Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision and not that of the state Cabinet. It was done in haste without following proper norms. Central government employees and several other state government employees get DA at a much higher rate. The hike in this regard is not justified. Overall the state budget appears to be pro-people which was presented keeping the upcoming panchayat election in mind,” said Chakraborty.

Meanwhile, ASSOCHAM welcomed the “balanced” budget, having provisions for rural Bengal especially those engaging in agriculture and allied sectors. Chairman Eastern Region ASSOCHAM, Ravi Agarwal appreciated entrepreneurship development focused budget of the state and said the budget offers to champion the growth sectors of the state.

N G Khaitan, president of Bharat Chamber of Commerce, said the budget is pragmatic and progressive with the focus on social empowerment of children, women and the downtrodden.

“Under very challenging circumstances as the state has huge debts in respect of borrowings from the Central Government and market, re-introduction of the Settlement of Dispute Schemes for redressal of VAT, CST, etc. cases again are indeed praiseworthy. This would certainly provide an opportunity to the asseesses to clean their books and augment revenue to a great extent,” said Khaitan in a statement.

“The proposals to withdraw the Rural Employment Cess on tea, waive the Agricultural Income Tax for tea gardens and continuance of reduced Stamp Duty for another 6 months are indeed laudable. Besides, ‘Bhavishyat Credit Card’ to provide financial assistance up-to Rs. 5 lakh would certainly support the aspired youth generation of the age group of 18-45 years towards self-employment,” he added.