UP, U'khand give thumbs down to Interim Budget

There was general disappointment in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on the Interim Budget for 2009-10 presented in Parliament yesterday.

UP Chief Minister Mayawati termed the Budget as a mere document of statistics aimed at befooling the masses. She alleged the Budget completely neglected the farmers and had no concrete plans for the poor.

She maintained that the Centre had only given new names to old schemes to lure the voters in the election year and neglected all the sectors, including education, industry and the social sector.

Indian Industries Association (IIA) President Parveen Sadana welcomed the increase in expenditure outlay in the social sector and infrastructure, and stressed the need to increase the outlay for the industrial sector also.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Uttar Pradesh State Council chairman Amitabh Nangia termed the vote-on-account “a classic example of constitutional propriety and governance”.

On the other hand, Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri described the Interim Budget as “disappointing”, adding it has failed to bring any tough measures to control the severe economic slowdown in the country.

“The Centre’s Interim Budget is very disappointing because it failed to bring any new ray of hope for controlling the meltdown,” said Khanduri in a statement.

Meanwhile, industrial chambers in Uttarakhand have criticised the Centre for not extending the special industrial package for a period of another three years. There were expectations in Uttarakhand that the UPA government, which curtailed the period from 10 to 7 years in its first Budget, would extend it till 2013.