Ranchi: The ruling parties in the state including the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Congress party have heaped praise on the annual budget of the state which was tabled by Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon in the assembly worth Rs 1,16,418 crore.
Addressing a press conference senior JMM leader Supriyo Bhattacharya said that the budget is focused on increasing the basic amenities for the people in the health education agriculture welfare energy tourism sectors in which villagers are involved have been a top priority in the budget. He said that 71 percent of the budgetary allocation amounting to Rs 82,703.34 cr is being spent on public welfare.
Bhattacharya said that people have seen many models of development including the construction of big structures building dams and loot in that which was priority of the Raghubar Das government but the present government has accorded priority to the basic development of the common people. He said that from this budget people will move towards making a strong Jharkhand.
The JMM leader said that the earlier budget was made to make capitalists and contractors happy which has been stopped by the Hemant Soren government. Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee President Rajesh Thakur while reacting to the budget said that it will give fast development to the state as the budget has made keeping in mind the villages, the poor, the labourers, the farmers and the youth. He said that the unemployment rate has come down from 7 percent to 03 percent.
Milk producers of the state will be benefited by increasing the incentive amount in milk production from Rs.02 to Rs.03 per litre. The decision to set up a pension fund for the Old Pension Scheme is commendable while financial discipline has been fully taken care of in the budget, he said, adding that the government’s fiscal deficit is within disciplined limits and emphasis has been laid on schemes rather than establishment items.
He said that emphasis has been given on the renovation of ponds in the budget and on the other hand, it is a bold decision to bring Krishi Samridhi Yojana for solar energy-based micro lift irrigation. The provision for giving promotion to organic farming is within the budget and farmers will get benefit from crop protection programmes. This is actually the budget of the common people of Jharkhand he claimed.