Budget spoke more about what the government had done or was doing whereas it is imperative that Budget proposals speak about what should be done, said Leader of the Opposition of the Tripura Assembly, Animesh Debbarma and urged, “Let us think differently”.
Taking part in Budget Discussion in the House on Monday, Animesh Debbarma criticised the 2023-24 State Budget alleging the BJP ruled government has failed to reduce State’s dependency on Central funds during the it six years tenure.
He also slammed the Budget proposals saying that BJP promised to set up AIIMS like institution in its Vision Document however, no proposals were made to this end in budgets of the last six successive years.
Debbarma also vented his anguish for allocating meagre funds for the development in Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council (TTAADC).
“The budget has failed to provide any direction to people. There is no proposal for the 9 lakh unemployed youth of the State. It also spoke nothing about the government employees. Moreover, the Budget maintained silence regarding Jhumiya people and Primitive Tribal Group (PTG)”, Debbarma said.
In this connection, he highlighted that Budget documents presented details of department wise retirement profile of the State Government, however, not a single word was spent about recruitment.
He also raised the JRBT and STGT issues and urged the government to recruit the successful candidates.
In his almost an hour long discussion, Debbarma spent considerable time on State’s dependency on the Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central funds.
Referring to Budget documents, the Opposition leader said State’s Own Tax Revenue stands at 12.43 per cent and State’s Own non-Tax Revenue is 1.66 per cent of total receipts – totalling around 14 per cent.
With this he questioned how BJP’s slogan of making Tripura Atmanirbhor can become a reality. He also referred to previous years’ data and said the own tax and non tax revenues are hovering around 14 per cent.
He said he was it to be around 25-30 per cent to achieve the goal of Atmanirbhor Tripura.
Shifting focus on Health Sector, apart from the AIIMS issue, Debbarma mentioned shortages of infrastructure, equipment and man power in health centres. He urged the government to ensure availability of proper arrangements before expanding facilities.
He also came down on the budget proposal for allocating only Rs 672 crore were allocated for TTAADC which is a meagre 2.7 per cent of total outlay.
Debbarma continued, out of Rs 672 crore, a significant portion, Rs 580 crore will be utilized for paying salaries and pensions, leaving only Rs 92 crore for developmental activities.
Debbarma also alleged the skill development programme lacked quality training facilities. As a result, youths of who are undergoing skill development fail to secure a job in reputed companies.
He also spoke about drinking water, irrigation, road, electricity etc.
