Manohar Lal Khattar, team hail budget; Congress leaders fume over it

CHANDIGARH: Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and his team has hailed the Union Budget while terming it to be a plan for ‘gaon, garib and kisan’. Opposition parties on the other hand have termed the budget as directionless and ‘jumla’ budget for the sixth year in a row.
Finance minister Capt Abhimanyu described the budget as historical and development-oriented one. “The budget is dedicated towards the welfare of the villages, poor, youth, women and farmers. It is a budget that is the foundation of progressive and strong India in which attention has been paid to 130 crore people of the country,” he said. The budget has some important schemes such as the implementation of ‘adarsh kiraya kanoon’ across the country, making available loans to small shopkeepers in 59 minutes, etc., Abhimanyu added.
Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed dismay over the budget by saying that, “They had nothing for the farmers. So far, as agriculture supplements are concerned, their rates are set to go up. Farmers are faced with another crisis now. This was more of selling the dreams than putting up the real picture. We shall come back after decoding the budget document,” said Hooda. There was no mention about the provisions of a coach factory, defence university or AIIMS extension at an alternate place, he added.
HPCC president Ashok Tanwar questioned the achievements of making India a five trillion economy. “You can’t say anything like that. How is this possible for Rs 30 lakh million budget. You need some planning and investments before expecting the returns. How is this possible in this size of the budget. Especially, at a time when you have not defined the deficit target as well,” said Tanwar.
“This budget is just full of ‘jumlas’, that too without any practicality,” he added.