Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday hailed the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Parliament.
In a statement issued here, he said it would boost the economy and benefit all sections of society, especially the poor, farmers, women and the salaried class.
Mr. Hooda appreciated the proposal to raise subvention for timely repayment of crop loan from one per cent to two per cent and doubling of plan allocation for power sector to Rs. 5,130 crore.
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He also appreciated the four-pronged strategy adopted to spur the growth in agriculture sector and added that the proposal to raise the target of agriculture credit flow to Rs. 3,75,000 crore from Rs.3,25,000 crore was indeed praiseworthy. The proposal to implement nutrient- based fertilizer scheme from April 1 this year would also benefit the farmers.
Mr. Hooda further appreciated that the transportation of cereals and pulses by road would be exempted from service tax.
He also praised the hike in allocations for rural development, NREGA,Bharat Nirman programme,Backward Region Grant Fund and Rajiv Awas Yojana.
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Meanwhile, Haryana Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said that the Union Budget was “progressive and people-oriented.”'
The Haryana State Secretariat of the CPI(M) strongly criticized the budget proposals presented describing them as “anti-people.''
In his reaction, CPI (M) State Secretary Inderjit Singh said that the increase in the petrol and diesel prices and enhancement of the indirect taxes would further squeeze the common people already reeling under the impact of high prices of essential commodities.
He also flayed the continuance of ``retrograde policies of the UPA Government which were giving huge concessions to the corporate sector and real estate builders at the cost of common people''.
He also criticized the proposals for disinvestment of public sector assets and subsidy cut in fertilizer and food items announced in the budget.
Mr. Singh appealed to the people to ``effectively protest on the streets'' to get these proposals withdrawn.
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala, Haryana BJP unit chief Krishan Pal Gurjar, senior BJP leader Rattan Lal Kataria and Haryana Janhit Congress chief Kuldeep Bishnoi in separate statements sharply flayed the Budget and described it as ``directionless and anti-people.”