Congress MLAs on Monday slammed Haryana’s budget 2023-24, saying it is “totally disappointing” and there is nothing in it for the poor and farmers. During a discussion on the budget in the Haryana Assembly, the opposition party’s legislators termed it a “jugglery of figures”.
On 23 February, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, announced a Rs 1,83,950 crore budget for 2023-24, an increase of 11.6 per cent over the revised estimate of Rs 1,64,808 crore.
He proposed no fresh tax, decided to hike the social security pension to Rs 2,750 per month and announced financial support for women entrepreneurs, among other things. Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal dubbed the budget “totally disappointing”. “The BJP talks about Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, but Jhajjar, from where four Congress MLAs come, is being discriminated against in development works,” she charged.
Bhukkal, a former education minister, claimed 36 Aarohi Model Schools opened in backward areas during the tenure of the erstwhile Congress government have been shut down. Targeting the government over the law and order situation in Haryana, the Jhajjar MLA said, “It has been said in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha that Haryana has become a safe haven for criminals.” Senior Congress leader Kiran Choudhary termed the budget “disappointing” and said there is nothing in it for the poor, farmers and other sections.
BJP’s Adampur MLA Bhavya Bishnoi, however, said the budget will take the state further on the path of growth.
