The Hindu Business Line : Budget evokes mixed reactions

WHILE the State Finance Minister, Mr Y. Ramakrishnudu, described the budget as an effort to restructure fiscal framework and make it more people-friendly, the Congress Legislature Party Leader, Dr Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, said that the Government's heavy reliance on debt was detrimental to State's interest.

Dr Reddy said the State debt burden which is currently estimated at Rs 42,000 crore would go up to Rs 57,000 crore by the year end, which is dangerous to the State economy.

From early indications it was clear that most of the allocations look inflated because of addition of the unspent amount of last year to this year.

Important issues like housing and development of backward regions have been ignored and this is clear from the budget document since there is no mention of these two important issues confronting the State, Dr Reddy said.

The MIM Leader, Mr Asaduddin Owasi, said the allocation for the minorities was disappointing.

The BJP Leader, Mr Indrasena Reddy, said that except a lengthy speech, there was nothing substantial to comment upon. Issues regarding backward region and the Godavari water usage, have been left untouched.

The Telangana Rashtriya Samithi leader, Mr Chandrasekhara Rao, said that the budget has deviated from the Government's Vision 2020 document and continues to be a speech of promises, which would be broken as was the case in the earlier years. There is no mention of the backward areas, which need special attention for development. While the expenditure on employees will be cut, this only means that more jobs are on the chopping block.

The CPI (M) leader, Mr Nomula Narsimaih, said this was nothing but jugglery of figures to cover the mounting debt burden. While the debt is mounting, it is not going into capital expenditure but most of it is being deployed for unproductive purposes.

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