Tags:
Journalism of Courage
HYDERABAD, March 20: The entire Opposition in Andhra Pradesh Assembly today pooh-poohed the state budget presented in the House by Finance Minister P Ashok Gajapathy Raju for the year 1998-99 describing it as "lacklustre, directionless and anti-poor".
The Congress floor leader P Janardhan Reddy said the government failed to address to the basic necessities of the people and added that despite impressive projections in state plan outlay it was doubtful if the government would be able to implement the proposed schemes and programmes.
The BJP floor leader Ch Vidysagar Rao said the budget was not aimed to address itself to the needs and requirements of the common man. The budget failed to focus on the plight of the cotton growers he said adding the government did not do anything to introduce rural indebtedness relief act.
Earlier in the day, a soft tax-free budget for 1998-99 with a deficit of Rs 238.45 crore was presented by Raju. Laying main emphasis on development of infrastructure, irrigation, tourism,social welfare sectors and implementation of "Vision-2020", the minister, in a two-hour long budget speech, projected a revenue deficit of Rs 589.19 crore for the year.
However, after taking into account all transactions, there would be a net deficit of Rs 192.08 crore and with the opening negative balance of Rs 46.37 crore, the financial was expected to end with a deficit of Rs 238.45 crore, he said.
A quantum jump was effected in plan expenditure for 1998-99 which was fixed at Rs 4,678.95 crore, reflecting an increase of 22.8 per cent over the outlay for the current year while the non-plan expenditure was put at Rs 14,945.22 crore. Significantly, there was no mention of the contentious power sector reforms in the budget which earmarked 26 per cent each for social services, agriculture and irrigation sectors out of the total plan outlay. In sharp contrast to last year’s budget speech, which had attracted criticism for subscribing to World Bank’s suggestions to improve the sagging state economy, today’saddress was silent on the World Bank agenda.
Another contentious issue of public sector restructuring and privatisation found only a passing mention with the minister assuring the house that the government would be "judicious and cautious" in striking a balance between interests of workers and development at large.
