While people here have generally welcomed the State Budget for 2015-16 for not adding to the tax burden, sections of society have expressed dismay that there is nothing in it to fast-track development as the AIADMK regime enters the home stretch ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.
No new taxes is no news as no ruling party will ever go into elections after giving a bitter pill, points out S.Prakash, who runs an executive catering service here. Certain items will now attract lesser VAT but I’m sceptical whether they would be passed on to the customers. Since most people now prefer online portals for purchasing consumer goods, cosmetic reduction of VAT for them defies logic, he adds.
While Rs. 6,613.68 crore has been sanctioned for Agriculture Department another Rs. 111.97 crore has been granted to Horticulture Department for technology dissemination endeavours. We feel that is a welcome move.
Also, it is good that the State government is setting apart Rs.150 crore for ensuring quality seed availability through cooperative institutions. We also welcome the grant of Rs.253.50 crore for continuing intrastate river link scheme. But all that would help the farming community only when the State government ensures their deliverance without any pilferage to the intended beneficiaries, points out V.Jeevakumar of the Tamilaga Vivasaya Thozhilalar Sangam.
It is laudable that social welfare schemes have been accorded priority in the budget. But the State government definitely has not provided any clue in the budget proposals towards revival of the industrial activity that has slipped drastically in the past few years, rues an entrepreneur, V.M.Maran of Kumbakonam.
Precarious power situation, lax industrial policy formulation, ineffective or faulty implementation and a sense of dejection are plaguing the industrial units. It is time to implement the features of Vision 2023 rather than keep harping on its provisions, he adds.
NAGAPATTINAM: The budget presented by Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam has evoked mixed response in the district.
Farmers and fishermen are disappointed as no new scheme has been announced for their benefit save the exemption of value added tax for fishing accessories, said the president of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Era.Murugiyan.
Though the tax-free budget is an welcome one, people in the coastal areas of the district are disappointed over lack of announcement on desalination plant, he said. The district secretary of All India Kisan Sabha, V.Subramanian, termed the budget as anti-farmer. Though the government has allocated additional fund for agriculture compared to last year, it won’t benefit the farmers directly.
The fund allocated for horticulture, irrigation projects, agriculture, and fishing was inadequate as agriculture and fishing are the main occupation of the people of the district.
The secretary of Tamil Nadu Consumer Protection Council, G.Aravind Kumar, said the government has failed to announce any new schemes for the development of Nagapattinam district. Earlier, the government has announced the setting up of a Green Field Port in Nagapattinam under rule 110 in the Assembly, but no fund has been allocated for the project in the budget. The Central government had already allocated Rs.25 crore for the construction of a railway overbridge at Aakkraipettai, but the State has not sanctioned any amount for the project as its contribution.
The president of Indian National Fishermen Association, R.M.P.Rajendira Nattar, said the government should have allocated adequate funds for providing subsidised life-saving kits to the fishermen.
Budget clueless about revival of industrial activity that has slipped drastically in the past few years
