Abhimanyu defends budget, says will boost development

CHANDIGARH: Haryana finance minister Capt Abhimanyu, whose budget for 2016-17 drew flak from the opposition parties, on Wednesday defended it in the state assembly, saying the budgetary proposals would accelerate the pace of overall development in the state.

Replying to the discussion on budget, Abhimanyu, who presented his second budget on March 21, said that no fresh taxes had been imposed even though the state would feel the financial impact of Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY), 7th pay commission, increase in social security pensions and recommendations of Pay Anomaly Commission that would benefit over 62,000 state employees.

The finance minister said the government had taken over 75% of the ` 35,000-crore debt burden of power distribution companies to lessen the burden of interest and debt on them. The government move to take over the outstanding debt of discoms in this budget would lead to annual saving of ` 1,200 crore per year on account of interest.

Rebutting the opposition charge of exceeding the loan limit, Abhimanyu said the borrowings of the state government were within the limit of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act as well as norms of the central government. On the opposition charge of reduction in allocation of scheduled castes (SC) component in the budget, he said the state government had earmarked a plan outlay of ` 6,373 crore, which was 20.3% of the total plan outlay, for the welfare of schedule castes. This allocation is 34.47 % higher as compared to the allocation of previous year.