Hyderabad: Several political parties in Telangana – TRS, Congress, TDP – have expressed disappointment with the 2019 Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday.
While the ruling party in the State, TRS said no specific benefit has been announced for the State, opposition parties Congress and TDP said no major announcement for the welfare of farmers and the unemployed were made in the Budget.
However, hailing the Budget, BJP president in the State K Laxman said aspirations of 130 crore people of the country were reflected in the presentation.
Former TRS MP B Vinod Kumar was quoted by PTI as saying, “We have given proposals for Kaleshwaram (seeking funds for the irrigation project)… But, nothing specific is given.” Speaking about highways, Kumar said although the Centre prioritised national highways into one and two, but no national highway in Telangana is under category one.
He further termed the Finance Minister’s announcement of upgradation of district hospitals into medical colleges as a good scheme, but said it does not help the State as there is a medical college in almost every district.
Referring to the ‘Har Ghar Jal’ scheme, wherein Nirmala Sitharaman talked about using Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority funds for provision of safe drinking water, Kumar said it is difficult to implement as the Supreme Court has issued stringent guidelines on the matter. On the NDA government’s health scheme Ayushman Bharat, the TRS leader said the allocation of around Rs 6,000 crore to the project is quite less.
State Congress president and Lok Sabha member N Uttam Kumar Reddy too expressed his disappointment. “The budget is very disappointing. Everybody expected that some great ideas and schemes would be announced to address unemployment, farmers’ issues, youth and industries. We feel no great schemes have been announced for women, farmers, youth and other sections of society,” he said.
Meanwhile, TDP member Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy said the budget did not provide any relief to the salaried class and no programmes to make farming profitable. However, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy issued a statement saying that the budget contained plans for the welfare of all sectors and all sections of people.