Gujarat Budget: CM Hails Plans, Congress Calls It Disappointing

Ahmedabad, Feb 2 (PTI) Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel termed the state budget for 2024-25 presented by his government on Friday as a step aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of making India a developed nation by 2047 through sustainable development.
However, the opposition Congress termed the budget as "disappointing", saying it did not offer any relief to common people.
Finance Minister Kanu Desai presented the Gujarat government's Rs 3,32,465 crore budget for the next fiscal in the Assembly, an increase of Rs 31,444 crore, or 10.44 per cent, over the FY24 figures.
Desai did not propose any new taxes and announced a host of projects and schemes targeted at girls' education, women, the poor, youth and farmers.
Patel said the budget has focused on societal development, including upliftment of the underprivileged, youths, farmers and women.
"The budget is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Viksit Bharat @2047 though sustainable development," he said.
"An unprecedented development budget of Rs 3 lakh crore was presented last year. Once again, by augmenting it by 10 per cent this year, we present the people with a budget containing provisions totalling Rs 3.32 lakh crore," the CM said.
Patel said his government is setting an example in prudent financial management.
"The state has historically low public debt. The accounts for the fiscal year 2022-23 have been finalized, showing that Gujarat's total debt stands at 15.17 per cent of GSDP. This marks the lowest debt level in the past decade, positioning Gujarat among the top three states in the country with the lowest debt burden," Patel maintained.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Amit Chavda said the budget does not offer any solution to burning issues such as inflation, corruption and unemployment.

Addressing the media, Chavda claimed the BJP government has allocated only Rs 250 crore for the welfare of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and minorities.
"Though SC, ST, OBCs and minorities form nearly 82 per cent of Gujarat's population, this government allocated just Rs 250 crore, out of the total outlay of over Rs 3.32 lakh crore, to those boards and corporations which were formed for the welfare of these communities" said Chavda.

"This budget was disappointing because it neither gave any relief to common people nor offered any solution to burning issues such as inflation" the Congress MLA added.

Ahead of the budget presentation, Chavda and other Congress MLAs, including Imran Khedawala, Tushar Chaudhary and Vimal Chudasama, staged a demonstration outside the Assembly building wearing cut outs of LPG cylinders.
The Congress leaders said if the newly-elected BJP government in Rajasthan can give an LPG cylinder for Rs 450 to honour its poll promise, the same can be done in Gujarat, where the saffron party got a huge mandate from voters in the December 2022 polls.
Chavda expressed disappointment that the BJP government did not give any relief to Gujarat's women in this budget, too.

"Women are upset because no such scheme (for cheap LPG) for them was announced in Gujarat by the BJP government. Moreover, the budget failed to give any solution to the burning issue of unemployment as lakhs of educated youths are still jobless. The government claimed their revenue has increased, but this is meaningless if common people do not get any relief," said the senior Congress MLA.
Finance Minister Desai, addressing a press conference later in the day, said the Gujarat government has already implemented a scheme of providing free LPG cylinders twice a year to beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna.

"Thus, giving two cylinders free every year is as good as providing one cylinder for Rs 450," Desai argued.