Oppn slams CM over unspent funds from last year’s budget

Congress leader calls it preparation for the coming Lok Sabha election

The opposition parties criticised the state budget, presented by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the Assembly on Tuesday, as a meaningless exercise because the government has failed to spend most of the money it had got in last year's budget.

"Of the 2012 budget, which was of more than Rs 2 lakh crore, not even one-fourth has been spent and, only one month remains of the current financial year. So, this budget makes no sense," said BSP's Swami Prasad Maurya, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

Maurya said: "The works undertaken by the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in these 11 months indicate that in the future too, the money will be misused."

Terming it an "anti-people, anti-farmer and anti-poor budget", Maurya said the government had failed to fulfill its poll promises. There was no sign of laptop and tablet distribution, unemployment allowance was being given to SP workers, and protests had taken place in several towns against the manner in which money was being distributed under Kanya Vidya Dhan and Humari Beti Uska Kal schemes.

BJP state president Laxmikant Bajpai said that the budget was "disappointing" and made with the objective of appeasing the Muslim community. "This budget is anti-people. It does not create opportunities for new jobs, unemployment will increase further," he said. BJP leader in the Assembly Hukum Singh said: "The current financial year is nearing its end. What happened to the funds from the last budget has become a subject of confusion. How can the estimates and proposals of the budget for the year 2013-14 be believed?"

Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur called it an "election budget" and, like other opposition leaders, criticised the government for poor utilisation of funds from the last budget.

"Only 40-45 per cent of the last budget has being spent. How are they going to spend the rest of the money before March 31? All hanky panky will be there," Mathur said. "The budget lacks long-term vision. It looks like a preparation for the forthcoming parliamentary elections," he added.

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