West Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on Friday presented a budget of Rs 3.21 lakh crore with focus on social sector schemes for the financial year 2022-23. The budget proposes waiver of registration fee and road tax for battery-operated electric vehicles and CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles for two years from the financial year 2022-23. Ms Bhattacharya said that the initiative aims to reduce dependence on petrol and diesel and encourage reduction in carbon footprint.
In an effort to provide relief to the tea industry, the budget exempted rural employment cess, education cess and agriculture income tax for the financial year 2022-23. The state government has decided to extend the exemption of 2% on stamp duty and 10% exemption on stamp duty on the circle rate of land/property till September 30, 2022 for home buyers, introduced in the year 2021-22.
On social sector schemes, the West Bengal government has decided to increase the cover of beneficiaries under the Widow Pension Scheme from 13 lakh to 21 lakh beneficiaries, and has allocated an additional ₹960 crore in the budget. Under the ‘Lakshmi Bhandar’ cash transfer scheme, the number of women beneficiaries ensuring a monthly income benefit has increased to 1.53 crore with an annual financial outlay of ₹10,000 crore. In addition, the state government is providing social pension to over 70 lakh beneficiaries with an annual outlay of Rs 9,000 crore, the finance minister informed.
In her budget speech, Ms Bhattacharya said that the state government would be able to generate 1.20 crore new payment opportunities in the government, private and self-employed sectors, among other sectors, in the next four years. Speaking about the initiatives taken by the West Bengal government to boost industrial development in the state, Ms Bhattacharya highlighted the Devcha Pachami coal block, which she said would lead to rapid industrialization and huge employment opportunities. .
While presenting the budget, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators started protesting and walked out of the house. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said that the state government is changing the names of several centrally sponsored schemes and is misleading the people of the state by claiming that these schemes are being run by the state government. “This is not a budget to protect the interests of the people of the state. It is full of lies and is a political leaflet of Trinamool Congress,” Mr Adhikari said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reacted strongly to the BJP’s protest and said that she had “never seen such an attitude of the opposition where they cannot extend basic courtesy when the budget is presented in the House”. Ms Banerjee said the state owed about Rs 90,000 crore to the Center and pointed out that the Center had not released funds to the state after several natural calamities and cyclones. He said the Center collected money through Income Tax and GST (Goods and Services Tax), and only 40-45% of it was returned to the states through allocations in various schemes.