Days after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress government that it has no budget and is going through a financial crisis, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on 2 August said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given a budget and every financial aspect has been kept ready.
Earlier on 7 July, CM Siddaramaiah presented the state budget and said to fulfill the five guarantees promised ahead of Assembly polls, adding it would cost the exchequer approximately ₹52,000 crore annually and is expected to benefit around 1.3 crore families.
However, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said the budget lacks a comprehensive development vision of the state and would burden people with taxes. he had said, as PTI quoted “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said he will borrow ₹86,000 crore. The burden of the debt will fall on the citizens of the state.”
To this, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar replied, as quoted by news agency ANI, “Who said that? Karnataka is a very strong state. We have made plans, we are going to implement them. It is the land of Basavanna, we are going to implement whatever we said. Siddaramaiah has given a budget and every financial aspect has been kept ready. We are going to implement even after elections.”
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Replying to opposition allegations of financial crisis in the state, Karnataka Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “No. There is no crisis.”
Among others who hit out at BJP’s allegations, include Karnataka Large and Medium Industries minister MB Patil. He had said, “The budget has also exposed the lapses and fiscal indiscipline of the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s tenure.” He also asserted CM Siddaramaiah knows how to generate revenue.
What’s Announced?
In the budget presented in the state assembly, CM Siddaramaiah hike the additional excise duty on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) by 20% on all 18 slabs. Also, the government announced that education will be allocated ₹37,587 crore, or almost 11 percent of the budget for Education while ₹24,166, or around 7 percent of the budget was been allocated for Women and Child Development.
The government also announced life and accident insurance of ₹4 Lakh to e-commerce delivery employees working with Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, etc. This includes ₹2 lakh life insurance and ₹2 lakh accident insurance and covers both full-time and part-time delivery persons. ₹30,000 crore has been allocated for the development of BMRCL’s Namma Metro project to solve the issue of Bengaluru traffic, the government said.
With agency inputs.
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Updated: 02 Aug 2023, 10:56 PM IST