Hyderabad, February 21: Praja Rajyam party (PRP), CPI, CPM and the BJP strongly have criticised the State Government’s budget proposals for 2010-11 financial year presented by Chief Minister K Rosaiah in the State Legislative Assembly today.
The Left parties described the budget as a jugglery of numbers and not reflective of the actual facts. They said that during the discussions in the Assembly they would propose several amendments to the budget. If the government did not take it in the right spirit they would launch agitations in and outside the Assembly, they warned.
PRP MLA B Satyanand, G Srinivas Rao and V Geeta expressed disappointment at the budget. They said the government lacked direction while preparing a budget of over Rs 1 lakh crore. They said the budget neglected welfare of women.
They wondered how the State could overcome the present financial crises.
CPI floor leader G Mallesh said the budget had no provision for developmental schemes. The chief minister proposed Rs 1.13-lakh crore budget with a deficit of Rs 13,000 crore but did not mention how he would overcome the deficit.
“The chief minister did not mention social welfare activities and neglected the poorest of the poor in the budget. He neglected former chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s prestigious Jalayagnam programme.
Going by the proposed allocations the Jalayagnam projects would not be completed even after two decades. The government also neglected infrastructure projects in the budget’’ the CPI leader observed.
CPM MLA J Ranga Reddy said the government hoodwinked the people once again.
The budget gave least priority to YSR’s dream projects and the problems of the poor. “Why did the chief minister not mention the nine-hour power supply to farmers and 30 kg rice to BPL families?’’ he wanted to know.
He objected to the policy on SEZs.
BJP MLA G Kishan Reddy alleged that the government failed on all fronts and it was amply reflected in the budget.
“There is no regional balance in the budget. For the record sake the chief minister has been using his experience to expand the size of the budget year after year. But the government was unable to spend the allocations under various heads.’’ On the other hand, Lok Satta Party (LSP) president and MLA Jayaprakash Narayan welcomed the budget. But, he expressed dissatisfaction on allocations to key sectors. He welcomed the government’s microeconomic programme which was mentioned in the budget but opposed allocation of Rs 1-crore fund to MLAs and MLCs.
–Agencies