CHENNAI: The opposition parties in the State on Tuesday criticised the interim budget for 2016-17 and alleged that the government had failed to address the demands of various sections of society.
The DMK president M Karunanidhi in his statement here recalled the remarks made by the then Leader of the Opposition J Jayalalithaa about the interim budget of the DMK regime presented on February 5. The DMK leader said her remarks then held good for the AIADMK government's interim budget today.
The debt burden of the State had gone up drastically and the budget had not responded to the demands of government staff and others who had been protesting across the State.
The PMK founder S Ramadoss said the interim budget had highlighted that the State's economy had slipped to a very bad state while the debt burden had gone up manifold. On the announcement that the preliminary works on Athikadavu-Avinashi scheme would start immediately, he said it was to hoodwink the people and wondered how could any scheme take off without funds. At least the demands of government staff, nurses, anganwadi staff and teachers could have been accepted in the budget.
The MDMK general secretary Vaiko said the interim budget had shown the AIADMK government's failure on all fronts. The DMDK founder Vijaykant said the fiscal deficit of the State had shot up and the assertion that the State was power surplus was only a claim. Instead of increasing the installed capacity, the government had been buying power at a high price from private players and this could not be accepted as an achievement.
The CPM State secretary G Ramakrishnan said the interim budget would not help resolve issues faced by people. The problems of farmers, fishermen, government staff and other sections had not been addressed in the budget. It has ignored the MSME sector and others.