Assam budget uploaded on official website before being tabled

Hours before Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma presented the state budget for 2020-21 fiscal in the Assembly on Friday, his speech was uploaded on the official website of the department but pulled down later.

The incident led to chaos in the Assembly with the opposition interrupting Sarma while he was reading the budget speech. They alleged breach of privilege which was turned down by Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami.

The budget was scheduled to be presented at 2 pm in the House, but the copy of his speech was first seen at around 9:30 am in the finance department's official website -- www.finance.assam.gov.in -- and circulated through various media groups in Whatsapp.

The opposition wondered how the budget document was uploaded on the website even before the state cabinet met at 1 pm to approve it.

Sarma's speech was removed from the website at around 10:30 am.

Though he did not mention about the incident but Sarma tweeted: "State Cabinet will discuss the state budget at 1 pm only and taxation proposals will be decided only in that meeting. Request everyone to avoid speculation."