Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Wednesday said that the Union Budget was disappointing and contrary to the expectations of the common man. “The Budget is a mere artful trickery to achieve the desired ends…There is nothing in this Budget for any section of society,” said Sukhu, adding that the Budget has not talked about ways to control inflation and unemployment.
The Chief Minister said that the people were waiting for “achhe din” as lured by the BJP in 2014. “The Union Government has lost its only opportunity to fulfill announcements as per the promises before the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2024,” he said.
“The Budget lacks the vision on the employment sector and no reasonable thinking has been made in this direction. There is no mention of urban employment and farmers who were expecting a raising loan limit. There was no announcement for subsidies on the farming tools or fertilizers,” he added.
Besides, there was no addition on MGNREGA allocation, thereby completely ignoring the rural employment avenues. “Nothing has been projected for the state in the Union Budget. There is no allocation for expansion of rail infrastructure and for the national highways. Even the changes in income tax slabs were not up to the people’s expectation as it has not given any relief to the middle class,” he said, adding that this is a Budget “to get the rich richer and the poor poorer”.
Stating that no special grant has been announced for the states under debt burden, Sukhu said: “Not only Himachal, there are many other states sailing in the same boat and reeling under debt. We have inherited the debt burden of around Rs 75,000 crore from the previous government, besides there is a liability of paying arrears to employees and pensioners amounting to nearly than Rs 11,000 crore,” he said.
He said that there was no mention about the reimbursement of GST since June 2022 in the Budget to the small hill states.
BOX
Union Budget 2022-23: Who Says What?
Budget will advance economic reform and industrial growth in the nation. New doors of progress will open with this budget and new employment opportunities will be created…All sections of society will be satisfied with the budget…I thank the Centre for including the State Government's digital library scheme in the central budget
- Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala
Union Budget has disappointed all sections of the society and actually proved to be a classic jumla of the BJP Government at the Centre…Budget has failed to address Punjab’s concern, particularly agriculture
- Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring
The budget is visionless and directionless…people, especially the poor and underprivileged, were expecting some special announcements to provide relief to the common man who has been reeling under extreme price rise since the COVID outbreak but all their hopes were shattered…There is nothing for the farmers in this budget and moreover, no legal guarantee has been announced for the MSP as expected by the farmers all across India
- Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Partap Singh Bajwa
Budget is anti-poor, farmers, labourers, small traders and farmers…Budget is silent on the issue of preventing inflation and creating employment…There’s no provision in the budget to provide relief to the people…Farmers are agitating for MSP and employees are agitating for old pension scheme, but the budget is silent even on their demands
- Leader of Opposition in Haryana Vidhan Sabha Bhupinder Singh Hooda
Union Budget 2023 has failed farmers, rural, poor, and youth besides failing to do anything to revive the agricultural and industrial sector in Punjab
- SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal
I am really disappointed with Union Budget…Tax benefits proposed in the Budget are almost nil if inflation is taken into account…There’s nothing much announced for the industrial sector…The only good thing in the Budget is a substantial increase on infrastructure expenses
- AAP Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, Sanjeev Arora
It is a growth-oriented budget as it has clearly indicated the Government’s vision for Amrit Kaal through a focus on ‘7 Priorities’…This year’s budget scores well on many fronts including its focus on developing infrastructure, meeting green goals, providing tax relief to the middle class and boosting MSME sector
- CII Northern Region chairman Anshuman Magazine
Union Budget 2023 will act as a turbo engine to propel and excel India’s fastest growing economyIt is a ‘Bumper Bonanza Budget’ for youth, tax payers, MSME, women, farming community, LIGs beside many other sectors…The Budget is path-breaking and will provide wings to India’s growth story by focusing on investment, increased expenditure, employment, and ease of doing business
- BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill