Opp says Budget is gimmick, attempt to woo rural voters

Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, CM Mamata Banerjee and state Assembly speaker Biman Banerjee after presenting the Budget in the Assembly in Kolkata on Wednesday. Dilip Dutta


Opposition parties criticising the state budget said today it is a gimmick to strengthen the vote bank of the Trinamul Congress before panchayat polls.

Leader of the Opposition Abdul Mannan said false and fabricated facts were presented in the state budget. He also alleged the Governor’s speech that is written by the state government also presented false facts on Thursday.

“Chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed today during a Press conference after the announcement of the budget that the state government has created 81 lakh jobs during her tenure. According to her claim around 1350 people must get job from each booth of the state as there are 77,000 booths in West Bengal. But in reality around 1000 to 1200 people reside in each booth. The employment generation figure is false.

She must lay white paper in the Assembly to support her claim,” said Mr Mannan.

He also alleged government’s claim regarding distribution of rice for Rs 2 per kilogram to 90 percent people is false.

“This government and chief minister Mamata Banerjee delivered false promises to divert the attention of the people. The tragedy is that the government did not mention any fund allocation in the budget to clear the dues of the Dearness Allowance (DA) of the employee,” he said.

The leader of Opposition also criticized the state government’s initiative~ Rupashree, another welfare scheme for the girl child.
“Several states including Congress run state in Karnataka provide girl child a hefty amount of LIC under girl child welfare scheme, in which a girl get Rs 1.97 lakh and here they get only Rs 25,000,” he said.

Mr Mannan also expressed concern over the killing of girl child in this state.

“The state government must implement severe penal action against the perpetrators of girl child…There was no sufficient funds alloted in the Budget for protection of girl child,” he said.
CPI-M MLA Sujan Chakraborty said the budget has not created any opportunity for employment generation.

“This budget aimed to woo the rural people by giving them false promises as panchayat poll will be held in 2018. We have not seen any fund allocation for setting up any industries,” he said.

Mr Chakraborty alleged the state government is financially indebted because it continues organizing fairs, festivals, party’s programme.