Bihar neglected, no roadmap for employment generation: CM Nitish on Budget 2023 | Latest News India | Times Of Ahmedabad

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday termed the Union budget presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman “disappointing” alleging that the state’s demands for special status and a package of ₹20,000 crore were neglected. Nitish Kumar said that the budget priorities are changed every year and are “not being fulfilled due to lack of focus and funds.”

“The budget is disappointing and lacks vision. Every year, the priorities of the budget are changed and these remain unfulfilled because of a loss of focus and lack of sufficient funds,” the JD(U) leader said in a written statement.

Kumar, who dumped the BJP in August last year to return to “Mahagathbandhan”, further stated, “Bihar has been once again neglected and our demand for special status has been ignored. Inclusive growth will remain a distant dream unless poor states are developed.”

The statement was released after Kumar’s return from the north Bihar district of Supaul, where he was on his ‘Samadhan Yatra’, to the state capital late in the evening.

“There is no concrete roadmap for employment generation. Borrowing limit for states has not been increased even though a memorandum to the effect had been submitted (to the Centre),” he added.

He also berated the seven priorities that Sitharaman spoke of in her budget saying it was “just repackaging of existing central schemes.” Kumar said that the seven priorities, named ‘Saptarshi’, “follow the pattern of saat nishchay (seven resolves) that we introduced in 2016 as the guiding principle of schemes to be introduced and implemented by the government in the state”.

He added that schemes under ‘Saptarshi’ have been announced “without adequate funding provisions”.

Senior JD(U) leader and state finance minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary in a strongly worded statement said, “None of the demands I had raised during the pre-budget meeting with Sitharaman have been met. This budget is anti-poor and goes against the interests of Bihar. The people of the state will give a befitting reply to BJP for this.”

“States will be allowed to borrow less as a result of the cap announced in the budget while having to contend with additional burden in the name of centrally sponsored schemes. This is insensitive,” he fumed.

“Bihar, which has been growing at a rate of more than 10 per cent, against national average of seven per cent, has got nothing from this budget. To keep the growth rate, we needed assistance like interest-free loans from the Centre for investments in infrastructure etc. The budget is silent on that,” he added.