Amid rising unemployment, inflation and falling incomes that had caused uneasiness among common people, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackray on Tuesday said the annual budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was quite disappointing. ‘’It is a disappointment to employees and the general public. There is no concrete answer to rising unemployment in the country. Without realizing how many of these dreams have actually been fulfilled, new dreams have been presented to the people in the budget of 2022-23. But the budget shows no direction to fulfil the dreams of the past and the present, he said.
‘’The budgetary provision for rural development and NREGA has been reduced. This will not only create difficulties in the development of rural areas but will also affect various schemes implemented for farmers through NREGA. How can farmers' income be doubled in such a situation?’’ asked Thackeray. He observed that no major announcement has been made in the budget for the farmers other than payment of minimum basic price to the farmers in their bank accounts. Corona has increased dependence on agriculture. Against this backdrop, concrete measures for farmers were needed in this budget. The development of agro-processing industries beyond sustainable irrigation and employment generation was expected from this budget which is missing,’’ he opined.
The finance minister said she would discuss with private developers affordable housing in the housing sector, which has huge employment opportunities. There is no mention of it in the budget. The budget seems to have turned a blind eye to the fact that 80 lakh houses will be built but the purchasing power should come to the masses.
Thackeray said the government should have announced measures to accelerate job creation.
‘’The central government has increased its allocation for the current financial year to Rs 15,000 crore from 50 per cent interest-free loans to the states for capital expenditure. Also, the provision for next year has been increased to Rs 1 lakh crore. This is welcome. However, the central government should not impose onerous conditions while allocating these loans, otherwise the state will not get any benefit from this increased limit,’’ said Thackeray.
CM hailed the gross GST collection of Rs 1.40 lakh crore in January but said the FM has not made any announcement in the budget to give any benefit to the state. ‘’As the collection of GST increased, it was necessary to increase the share of the states in the central tax. Also, the state government demanded to extend the five-year period of GST compensation by another three years. But the budget is silent. Large arrears of GST are pending with the Centre and it is now expected that the states will get it soon," he added.
Thackeray welcomed the FM’s announcement on the launch of 5G services but said students from rural areas suffered due to the present internet facilities and speed in the era of 4G services. The Chief Minister said that not only mobile phones should be made cheaper but also the rate of internet facility be reduced and the infrastructure in this area should be strengthened at the village level.
