Mumbai: Terming the Maharashtra budget as a ‘jumla-budget’ ahead of the October Assembly elections, state Congress President Nana Patole said that the policy for women has been inspired directly from the Congress’ 5 Guarantees, here on Friday.
“The Congress had promised Rs 8,500 aid per month to poor women, and now the Deputy CM and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar has copied our policy by announcing Rs 1,500 every month to women. But what will be the value of this amount considering the high inflation,” demanded Patole.
While a meagre amount has been promised to women in the state, there is no mention of jobless youths in the state, and government vacancies are still not being filled up.
As farmers in large areas of the state — around 12 districts — are still waiting for the monsoon, the government has ‘rained slogans of promises’ but without mentioning how much funds would be allocated to which department, he pointed out.
“This is the first budget in the history of the state where there is no provision of department-wise funds like agriculture, irrigation, social justice, housing. Instead, it is full of hollow announcements intended to mislead the people and there is a doubt about how far they will be able to implement the promises,” Patole said.
Even as the MahaYuti has promised to waive off the electricity bills of the farmers, there is no clarity on the arrears, though the Congress and the Maha Vikas Aghadi had demanded a full loan waiver for the tillers on the lines of Telangana.
Expressing doubts on various aspects of the budget, Patole said that Maharashtra has built up a debt mountain of Rs 7 lakh-crore, and ranks sixth in per capita income and exports, even below Gujarat.
“The state finances are in a miserable state but the MahaYuti government is painting a false, rosy picture. The Centre has already robbed people for the past 10 years by taxes on gas, petrol, diesel, and now just before the state elections, they are showing a carrot of nominal tax reduction on fuels,” slammed Patole.
(IANS)
