Hyderabad, July 07: Like the railway budget, the general budget too has failed to do justice to the State, lamented Praja Rajyam party president Chiranjeevi.
In a press release here today, he said that whereas the State Government claims time and again to be getting more and more funds from the Centre, none of this is reflected in the budget. With no proposals actually useful to the common people and others which would only burden them, the Aam Admi rhetoric of the UPA Government rings hollow, he maintained.
There were no proposals to reduce prices of essentials, and the rise in prices of petro products before the presentation of the budget would only make matters grimmer, Chiranjeevi said.
Though it is being touted as a “youth budget”, there was no proposal to increase employment opportunities and nothing was said about creation of 1.2 crore new jobs every year, he pointed out. With lakhs already losing their jobs in the economic slowdown, and with no impetus on sectors like agriculture, basic facilities and services, development would be stalled.
Prognoses of 9 percent overall growth, as compared to the current 6.7, and achievement of 4 percent in agriculture were nothing but daydreams, Chiranjeevi said. There were no specific proposals to check farmer suicides, and artisans too had been given short shrift, the PRP chief stated. As for the middle class, extension of the service tax net would impose a burden on them, Chiranjeevi alleged.
Party’s Political Affairs Committee member C Ramachandraiah stated that with no proposals to boost infrastructure and manufacturing sectors growth of employment would take a back seat.
–Agencies–