Kerala’s Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac on Friday presented the State Budget for 2017-18 keeping his focus on welfare, health, IT, education and infrastructure development but the entire exercise ended in chaos with the Opposition alleging that details of the document had been leaked and demanding his resignation over this and presentation of a new Budget.
The Opposition met the State Governor late Friday evening to petition him on the alleged Budget leak. “The Government is trying to trivialize such a serious issue. Isaac should resign as Finance Minister by owning the responsibility for the leak and a new Budget should be presented,” said Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala after meeting the Governor.
In the first full Budget of the nine-month-old CPI(M)-led lDF Government headed by Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Isaac also gave emphasis to steps to enhance public education and women’s safety. For the funds for almost all his ambitious proposals, Isaac was seen relying on the special purpose vehicle, the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board.
The Budget, which showed a total revenue income of Rs93,584.74 crore and revenue expenditure of Rs109,627.88 crore, proposed projects worth Rs25,000 crore for infrastructure development. The funds for this and the Internet revolution he promised to bring about had to come through the KIIFB.
“A total of Rs5,628 crore has been earmarked for the construction and repair of 182 roads across the State. This is considered as a major infrastructure initiative,” the Finance Minister said. As much as Rs2,557 crore would be used for the construction of 69 bridges and over-bridges while Rs10,000 crore would be allocated for the development of coastal and high-range roads.
Isaac said medicines for persons suffering from lifestyle diseases would be given free of cost and medicines used by those who had undergone organ transplant would be given at ten-percent discount. All welfare pensions were hiked to Rs1,100. Pension scheme would be extended to cover all those who were above 60 and were not income tax payers, he said.
Announcing that Internet facility would be made citizen’s right, the Minister said free Internet connections would be given to 20 lakh poor families. Internet facility would be made available at concessional rates by creating an optical fibre cable network parallel to the Kerala State Electricity Board’s power distribution network, Isaac said.
Isaac had started his three-hour speech by referring to Jnanpith winner MT Vasudevan Nair’s criticism of demonetization that it was a Tughluq reform. He also took an indirect dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by alleging that there were signs of some “hard work of someone who is smarter than Harvard” scholars behind the claims of the Centre on growth rate.
However, the Assembly plunged into chaos as the Budget presentation reached the final stages with the Opposition leader waving a set of papers alleging that details of the document were available in the social media even before these were being read out in the House. “The sanctity of the Budget has already been lost. Isaac should resign,” said Chennithala.
Shocked by the development, Chief Minister Pinarayi said Budget details had not been leaked but assured the Opposition that its charge would be examined. “It is a serious issue and it will be looked into,” said Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan. He added that the Chief Minister and Finance Minister would make a statement on the matter in the House.
“I don’t know anything more than what the Opposition leader has alleged at this time,” said a visibly shaken Isaac whose speech was interrupted by sloganeering. “I can’t comment on a matter I am not sure about.” he said. By Friday evening, a member of the Minister’s personal staff who was in charge of media relations was removed from his responsibility.
The Opposition raised noisy protests demanding Isaac’s resignation and boycotted the rest of the Budget speech. legislators of the Kerala Congress (M) of former Finance minister KM Mani and lone BJP MlA O Rajagopal staged walked out along with the members of the Congress-led UDF.