Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Friday expressed fears about the negative impact the Union Budget would have on the prices of essential commodities as a result of the decision to levy excise duty and road cess on petrol and diesel.
Reacting to the budget here, Mr. Chennithala said that even otherwise, the Centre was collecting exorbitant tax in the name of petrol and diesel instead of making them affordable. Kerala has been totally sidelined in the budget proposals, both in terms of devolution of tax collection and adequate provision for it to tide over last year’s floods.
The State’s demand for support price for rubber went unheeded, while the higher import duty on cashew would break the back of the ailing sector. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s first budget continued the BJP’s earlier policy of pandering to corporate entities. There was absolutely no allocation for agriculture, fisheries and nothing to address the issue of unemployment, he said.
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Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran said the budget was a blow on the common man. He too expressed apprehension at the possibility of inflationary trends owing to the petrol and diesel duty hikes. The budget did not have any specific proposal to solve unemployment. In the case of Kerala, the cash crops were totally ignored, he said.