Farmers, traders, and trade union leaders of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts welcomed the State budget for not levying any new taxes.
S. Ranganathan, Secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association, said every aspect of the need of the people had been taken care of in the State budget. “This is a good budget,” he said.
Several schemes had been announced for the agriculture sector. The allocation for agriculture was Rs. 5,189 crore and Rs. 39.145 crore had been allocated for crop loans. A sum of Rs. 399 crore had been allocated for rejuvenation of tanks. This was a welcome move. However, a special scheme could be implemented for removing silt from the Mettur dam.
“The dam has to cleaned and the capacity is shrinking. Removing silt will help in getting an additional storage of 10 to 15 tmcft. It can be taken up as a special scheme,” Mr. Ranganathan said.
Thrust was on precision farming and power generation. Precision farming would help Cauvery Mettur Project (CMP) area of Thanjavur district. Power generation projects should be implemented as per time schedule. They should be treated on priority.
Transport union happy
D. Mathivanan, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Government Transport Corporation Employees Union (Kumbakonam unit), said the transport corporation employees thanked Ms. Jayalalithaa for announcing Rs. 500 crore in the budget for meeting fuel expenses by transport corporations.
“We thank the Chief Minister for this and for presenting a tax-free budget,” he said. He appealed to the government to take up the pension benefits of employees.
S. Prabhu, former Chairman, Builders’ Association of India, Thanjavur, welcomed the move by the government to provide rice at Rs. 20 a kg in the open market by procuring one lakh tonnes of rice and selling through shops under co-operative sector.
