Raipur faces Rs 820 crore deficit budget

With neither new taxes nor any upward revision of taxes, Chhattisgarh government today presented the annual budget for the fiscal 2008-09, showing an overall deficit of Rs 820 crore.

The government had reduced value added tax (VAT) on many items and proposed exemption for all salaried class from the ambit of professional tax with special focus on welfare schemes, and gender development.

"The government has given due importance to the concept of 'inclusive growth' and 'millennium development goals' under the eleventh five year plan," Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh said while presenting the Rs 18286 crore budget.

For the first time, he added, the government had presented a "gender budget" with stress on the welfare, uplift and empowerment of women.