Himachal Budget 'Most Disappointing', Says Jai Ram Thakur

(MENAFN- IANS) Shimla, March 21 (IANS) Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday described the state's Budget as“the most disappointing and directionless in the state's history”, offering absolutely nothing to the people.

He said the Budget consistently failed to meet expectations. From 2023-24, the fiscal deficit stood at Rs 10,300 crore, Rs 10,337 crore, Rs 12,414 crore, and Rs 9,896 crore, respectively.

During these years, capital investment dwindled to Rs 6,781 crore, Rs 6,239 crore, Rs 3,941 crore, and Rs 3,089 crore.

“In short, development has come to a complete standstill,” he remarked.

The main Budget for 2025-26 stood at Rs 58,514 crore, while the Budget for the current fiscal is Rs 54,928 crore, a reduction of Rs 3,586 crore compared to the previous year.

Thakur said this represented a 6.13 per cent decline.

“While budget estimates across the globe typically chart a path forward, this Budget presented by the Sukhu government has merely become a document that drags the state backwards,” he added.

He noted that the Budget is roughly equivalent to the Sukhu government's first Budget, which was Rs 53,412 crore.

“The reality of this government's financial management has now been laid bare,” he said, alleging that the government was working only to cut employee salaries.

Thakur accused the government of chanting slogans of vyavastha parivartan (systemic change) while driving the state's economy into a worse condition.

He said announcements made by the Chief Minister in his Budget speech, like previous declarations, would either gather dust or remain election guarantees.

He pointed out discrepancies in the budget estimates, exposed in the supplementary Budget. The government failed to utilise even 10 per cent of the funds allocated to the Kanyadan Yojana.

Similarly, only 17 per cent of the Shagun Yojana funds and 3.7 per cent of the Mahila Samman Nidhi allocation were used in the first three quarters of the financial year.

Likewise, the organic farming initiative remained confined to advertisements, as the government procured produce worth only Rs 2.69 crore from 1,643 farmers.

Beneficiaries did not even receive Rs 14,000 per farmer, despite hundreds of crores being spent on these schemes.

Meanwhile, ahead of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu presenting the Budget in the Assembly, BJP lawmakers staged a massive protest inside and outside the House against government policies, specifically targeting the recently hiked entry tax.

Led by Jai Ram Thakur, the Opposition alleged that the hike imposed an additional burden on the public and the business community, and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

Legislators raised slogans, asserting that the steep hike would adversely affect the transport sector and trigger inflation, directly impacting household kitchens.

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