Kolkata: Bengal BJP on Thursday criticised the state govt's vote-on-account budget for "lacking vision", questioned Trinamool for not creating jobs and accused it of repackaging old welfare schemes as new.
Ashok Lahiri, BJP senior and former economic adviser to the Union govt, said, "We didn't understand what the CM meant when she called the Union Budget ‘humpty dumpty'. Today we realised she was talking about the state budget."
"We expected the govt's annual financial statement. Surprisingly, there was nothing on that," said Lahiri. "There are (only) promises in the vote-on-account. It reads more like an election manifesto. The state finance minister nowhere mentioned how projects would be funded."
Leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari flagged that the state govt would have to pay Rs 11,000 crore to its employees from March following a Supreme Court order on dearness allowance. "The govt is on the verge of being insolvent. Forget about social security schemes, how will they fund salaries and pensions of employees?" he asked.
He further said there was no social welfare measure other than increasing the Lakshmir Bhandar from Feb. He added that Trinamool had committed Rs 5,000 to women in Goa in its election manifesto, but lowered the amount in case of Bengal.
"If elected to office, BJP will give Rs 3,000 to every woman under the scheme," Adhikari said.
He alleged the state govt had "simply changed the name of Yuvashree and introduced it as Yuva Sathi". "The state govt proposed to start unemployment benefits from Aug, but the vote-on-account is valid for only four months," he said.
"This vote-on-account budget is silent on industrialisation or creating employment opportunities. The industry incentive scheme was scrapped, at least 30 social welfare schemes discontinued and no allocation was made for migrant workers despite the CM asking them to come back to the state. This is nothing but a manifesto before polls," Adhikari said.
Bengal BJP further criticised the state govt for allocating Rs 920 crore for north Bengal development and Rs 1,484 crore for industries and enterprises, while proposing Rs 5,714 crore for minority affairs and madrassa education.