AGARTALA: Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury on Wednesday tabled a tax-free Budget of Rs. 12404.77 crore for 2014-15 FY leaving a budgetary deficit of Rs. 158.66 crore.
The Budget deficit will be squared up by compressing non-development expenditure, stepping up of resource mobilization, better tax enforcement and through austerity measures. The estimated Budget is 28.65 percent higher than that of last year- 2013-14.
Laying the Budget, the Finance Minister said the Union government has resorted to stopping new recruitment, abolition of vacant posts and reduction of the employment opportunity I the government sector.
“The policy of the Left Front government is quite different. The state government ahs been striving it’s best to expand the employment opportunities in the government sector. The recruitment of 4606 UGTs was the reflection of the government’s stand on employment”, he said.
Chowdhury, in his 38-page Budget speech highlighted the government plans to push infrastructure building in the state. “The upgradation of Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH-44) will start very shortly with the PWD working on it. In the fist phase, the NH-44 will be double-lane and later it will be converted into four-lane”, he said.
Asserting that the government has been focusing on the development of connectivity, he said the government has already handed over the land to Airport Authority of India (AAI) to pus the upgradation plan for the Agartala Airport.
On the railway connectivity, Chowdhury, however, sounded pessimist “The ongoing rail work for Agartala-Sabroom has been getting delay as forest clearance is yet to be cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. We are pursuing the matter with the Centre to get clearance”.
As part social commitment, Chowdhury announced to provide by-cycle to girls from economically poor family whose family income is below Rs. 1.25 lakh yearly and studying from Class IX to XII. Chowdhury proposed to establish a State University at MBB College complex.
The opposition Congress, however, termed the Budget as aimless and purposeless for the common people. “A Budget is the roadmap for the particular government to lay down the emphasis areas for a particular financial year. It is supposed to reflect the government’s endeavor to ensure socio-economic development of the people but I did not find anything special in it”, said opposition leader Sudip Roy Barman.
While speaking to media after laying of the Budget for 2014-15 FY by Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury, he said, “We often hear the government will provide 10,000 jobs in a year but nothing such is mentioned in the Budget speech. The Budget is far behind what the people expect from the Left Front government”, he said.
