BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said the Union Budget is disappointing, vision-less and nothing but a statement of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The budget has meted out big injustice to the state by not allocating grants to irrigation projects and Metro rail, he alleged.
“The budget is a sign that the Modi government is exhausted and has no economic vision or clarity on how to take the country forward. It has ignored Karnataka and South India again. The promise of a developed India is a mere lip-service as there is no plan to put it into action. This is the most disappointing budget of my political career. It did not go above the corporation budgets of big cities,” he commented.
Talking to the media in Kalaburagi, he said Raichur has not been sanctioned an AIIMS, though he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally and presented a memorandum.
“To develop Kalyana-Karnataka, we had sought Rs 5,000 crore as matching grants under Section 371(J), but there is not even a mention of it. Annually, the state gives the Centre Rs 4.5-5 lakh crore, but gets only 14% in return. Our demand for placing cess and surcharges under the divisible pool has also not been addressed,” he elaborated.
He took exception that the 16th Finance Commission had recommended 4.131% from the central tax pool to the state, as against UP’s 17.619% and Bihar’s 9.948%.
Give K’taka its due share, says Siddu
“States smaller than Karnataka, including Gujarat (3.755%), Andhra Pradesh (4.217%), Rajasthan (5.926%), Odisha (4.420%) and Andhra Pradesh (4.217%) have been treated better. We don’t say don’t give them, but give Karnataka its due share as it is ranked first in per capita income and attracting FDI, and second in GST collection,” Siddaramaiah said.
On the two high-speed trains announced for the state -- Bengaluru-Hyderabad and Bengaluru-Chennai, he said they will not benefit Karnataka as their maximum stretch is not in Karnataka. “They should have announced new trains between Bengaluru, Mumbai and Mangaluru,” he suggested. He said the grants allocated to rural and urban local bodies for five years are lesser compared to other states.
The CM said he will adopt the recommendations of the High-Power Committee on Redressal of Regional Imbalances to allocate Rs 43,000 crore to develop the most-backward taluks of north Karnataka in his upcoming budget. Mentioning that Bengaluru is one of India’s largest economic engines and a major contributor to national revenues, Siddaramaiah said the city would need Rs 1.15 lakh crore over the next five years to sustain growth.