THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The LDF government has termed the interim Union budget highly disappointing for the state. The demands and interests of the state have been completely ignored, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The demand to increase the import duty on rubber, to protect rubber farmers in the country, has been ignored, the chief minister said.
“No special attention has been paid to the state’s farming sector, especially with regard to paddy, coconut and spices. No new establishments, like the AIIMS, were sanctioned. No new trains, railway surveys or rail-line doubling were announced. No steps on the Sabari railway were taken. In short. none of the fair demands raised by the state were taken into consideration in the Union budget,” Pinarayi said.
“Though the budget claims to make India a developed nation by 2047, there are no measures to strengthen states, which is the basic tenet to achieve any such target. The Union budget and its parochial approach will only add to the financial imbalance across regions, hurt interests of states and contribute to inflation. A slew of demands, including raising the borrowing limit of states, have not been given due consideration. The loan for capital expenditure, too, has come down,” said the CM.
Pinarayi pointed out that the revised budget estimates show that the central government has spent only very little from funds allocated to different sectors. The same is the case with agriculture, education, health, social welfare and SC/ST development. The budget announcement on corpus funds for self employment shows that the Centre has completely forgotten its promises on employment generation.