Budget dedicated to poorest of poor: Haryana CM Khattar

Tribune News Service

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, March 21

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today hit back at the Opposition point-wise during a reply on the Budget discussion and asserted that “one would get only as much as his due is”.

Dedicating the Budget 2022-23 to the poorest of the poor, he pointed out that the schemes sometimes failed to reach the poorest of the poor as these were grabbed by clever and those who were able to misrepresent. He added that Parivar Pehchan Patra would help in reaching the poorest people. Taking a jibe at the Opposition, he said only those who didn’t understand the Budget call it a “circus”. On their allegation that the SYL was missing from the Budget, he said that Rs 100 crore was earmarked for it though it was not mentioned in his speech.

On the Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s assertion of rising debt, he said the debt to the GSDP ratio was at 24.98 per cent for fiscal 2021-22 (revised estimates) as against the limit of 32.6 per cent of the GSDP prescribed by the 15th Finance Commission. For 2022-23, the debt to the GSDP ratio was expected to remain at 24.52 per cent.

The Chief Minister said in this year’s Budget, the state government had highlighted that loans of Rs 55,000 crore have to be borrowed, within this amount Rs 14,800 crore are also included for the procurement process and storage for the farmers. Hence, the loan amount comes to around Rs 40,000 crore, out of which about Rs 20,000 crore would be used for the repayment of the loans.

Calling Budget presentation an event management of the BJP-JJP government, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda today took on Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar by calling it as the job of an amateur mechanic who had opened up an engine but didn’t know how to put it back together.

Hooda said when the Budget was presented on International Women’s Day, it was expected that some big announcement would be made for women in it. “But the demands of Asha and Anganwadi workers, who have been agitating for a long time in the Budget, were ignored,” he said.

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