Opposition dubs Rajasthan budget 'routine', 'directionless'

The opposition BJP on Thursday criticised the budget presented by the Congress-led Rajasthan government, saying it was a "routine budget" and an "example of poor financial management".

The BJP also said the budget failed to fulfil the expectations of the people of the state. Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria said the Ashok Gehlot-led government has burdened electricity consumers with Rs 12,000 crore annually by increasing the power tariff. He added that the state had come into surplus in terms of revenue receipts in the previous dispensation led by the BJP. 

"Power companies are reeling under losses. They have put an annual burden of Rs 12,000 crore on people by increasing power tariff. There is no relief to people in the budget. We are not able to see any development in the budget," Kataria said at a press conference.

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The Congress government had recently announced the power tariff hike of 11.21 per cent. Replying to a question on decreasing state share in tax collection from the Centre, Kataria said the state share in GST has increased concurrent with the income of the Centre.

He claimed the state government was earning Rs 21,000 crore through value-added tax (VAT), the highest in any state of the country, and despite that there was no word about development in the budget. Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia said it was a routine budget of the routine government and did not fulfil the expectations of the people of the state. 

"They will blame the Centre and will also expect from the Centre. It is an example of their poor financial management. The budget does not seem to be fulfilling the expectation of the people of the state. There is no excitement or direction in the budget," he said at a press conference. Poonia added that the chief minister started his speech with Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation, but did not talk about farmer loan waiver and unemployment allowance as promised earlier.

The Rajasthan government presented the budget for FY2020-21 in the state assembly on Thursday. Gehlot referred to the public welfare measures in the last budget, and said that his government has tried to present a concrete action plan in this budget also.

He levied no new tax proposals and announced to fill 53,151 new vacancies. He also announced rebate of Rs 130 crore in different kinds of taxes. This is the second budget of the Congress government, which came to power in the state in December 2018.

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