JAMMU: The State Budget lacked the direction to fulfil the promises made to common man before election besides to meet the challenge of employment to the youth, while the imposition of additional services tax would lead to price hike burdening further the poor and common man, said former Minister and senior Congress leader, Raman Bhalla while addressing huge gathering of party workers at Marble Market in Gandhi Nagar constituency on Tuesday.
Bhalla said that the budget has failed to meet the expectations of the youth, the farmers, the low and middle income groups, salaried class as well. He gave thumbs down to the Budget proposals for 2016-17, saying most of the proposals would lead to a shrinking of the state economy rather than reviving it. Adding further former Minister said that the Budget speech read more as “platitudes” to the industry than anything substantive. The PDP-BJP government had kept on hold the new industrial policy adopted by the State Administrative Council on March 14. That policy envisaged more than Rs 20,000 cr investments by industrialists and jobs to 1,50,000 people apart from thrust on transparency, accountability and e-governance.