Kolkata: After Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya presented the West Bengal Budget proposals for the financial year 2023-24 on Wednesday, a political slugfest has erupted in the state over them.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the Budget as a growth-oriented one maintaining a balance in social development with focus on employment generation and economic growth.
“Despite the adverse attitude of the Union government towards West Bengal, especially with regard to payment of central dues to the state, we have tried with our limited means to provide as much relief as possible to the people. This is truly a humanitarian Budget,” the Chief Minister said.
According to BJP legislator and former chief economic advisor to the Union government, Ashok Kumar Lahiri, there is no direction in the Budget to control the rising accumulated debt of the state.
“What is even alarming is that the burden of interest payment of previous debts will skyrocket by the end of the current financial year. So, after paying this huge interest as well as meeting the committed expenditures like salaries, wages and retirement benefits to state government employees, the state government will hardly have any reserve for meeting capital expenditure.
“That is why the projected capital expenditure every year in the Budget estimate gets reduced in the revised estimates. The same thing has happened this year as well,” Lahiri said.
CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the Budget has been presented keeping the forthcoming panchayat elections in mind, especially the proposal related to the old-age monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to women above 60 years of age.
“What will they do with just Rs 1,000? There is no scope for employment generation. There is no focus on education. The government has not done anything to improve the alarming situation that the state is in because of huge accumulated debt,” he said.
Trinamool Congress MLA Tapas Roy welcomed the Budget proposal to increase the local area development fund for MLAs to Rs 70 lakh for each legislator from the current figure of Rs 60 lakh.
However, senior BJP legislator Mihir Goswami said that such an announcement is meaningless considering that the state government has not paid the past dues to the MLAs on this count.
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