M A I N   N E W S

Budget “anti-poor, anti-farmer”
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 19
While the main Opposition, the Congress, said that the Budget presented in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today by the Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, was “anti-poor, anti-farmer and anti-urbanites,” the rebel Akali MLAs said that it was “hollow and directionless.”

Chowdhury Jagjit Singh, Leader of the Opposition, said that no measures had been initiated to avert the crisis in the farming sector. The proposed measures to be taken to tackle problems pertaining to the World Trade Organisation agreement could not be enforced without the Union Government’s assistance which would not be extended because of the strong inclination of the Centre to enforce the agreement.

He said only Rs 5 crore had been left for urban development whereas this amount should have been Rs 5,000 crore. The power tariff was expected to be enhanced in the light of various measures proposed by the government in the Budget. He said the Budget was a bundle of lies and false promises that would not be fulfilled.

The comments of Mr Avtar Singh Brar, another senior Congress leader and member of the Vidhan Sabha, were along similar lines.

Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, an “unattached” Akali Dal MLA, said that the Budget was directionless and hollow. While the commitments made in last year’s budget had not been fulfilled, the Finance Minister had tried to build castles in the air in today’s Budget. He said what was interesting in the Budget was a “great confession” on the part of the state government pertaining to suicides by farmers.

The government had been vehemently denying that farmers had committed suicide in the state though the print media had highlighted a large number of such cases. But today the government made a provision in the budget to provide compensation to next of kin of farmers who had committed suicide because of the debt burden.

Mr Grewal wondered what had happened to the “second push to agriculture” scheme, revolutionary proposal in last year’s Budget. Last year, the government had stated that Rs 200 crore would be spent on this scheme in five years. But there was no mention of this proposal in this year’s Budget.