Pic: Spoorthi Ullal

Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (MS)

Mangaluru, Mar 5: MLA U T Khader said that the annual state budget is a ‘hit-and-run’ budget.

In the press conference that was held at the Congress Bhavan at Mallikatte in the city on Saturday March 5, Khader said, “The state budget presented by chief minister (CM) Basavaraj Bommai is a reverse gear budget. It will take Karnataka back by many years. CM says that this budget is an all-round budget. But in fact this is hit-and-run budget. The capital of this BJP government is loan and liquor. The government is taking loan of Rs 72,000 crore and plans to collect Rs 29,000 crore through excise tax. Out of the total Rs 2.65 lac crore budget, Rs 10.1 lac crore is from loan and liquor. That is why I said that this government takes the people of Karnataka further back.

“CM Bommai is an irrigation expert also. The government has earmarked Rs 26,000 crore for irrigation. However, Rs 17,000 crore pending bills are not yet paid by the irrigation department. So is it possible for the government to do irrigational development in just Rs 9,000 crore? It is really appreciable that the government has allotted Rs 5,000 crore for Upper Krishna project. However, let the government inform the public about the work that is done earlier on this project. For Mekedatu and Mahadayi, the government has allotted Rs 1,000 crore. This is the fruit of our protest and pressure from the public.

“The government which was silent for so many days, has suddenly waken up after our Padayatra. In its election manifesto of 2018 BJP had promised Rs 1.5 lac crore for irrigation. This means that the government should have allotted Rs 30,000 crore for irrigation this year. However, it has given only Rs 26,000 crore. In this 17,000 old bills are pending.

“People who have suffered during Covid are not given any relief. Compensation is limited only to paper work. Government did not provide any compensation to the countless unorganized sector which is fighting for existence after the suffering during Covid period.

“No facilities are announced for the poor and labour class people in the budget. BJP promised to build five lac houses for the poor. So far it has not given a single house. When our government was in power, we built more than one lac houses in five years. Though the present BJP government has spent Rs 6,500 crore, not a single house is built.

“The grant allotted to backward communities in the budget does not even cross Rs 100 crore. This means that the extremely backward communities of the society are not even getting Rs two crore. Keeping minorities out of main stream is continued by BJP in budget allocation also. During Siddaramaiah led government, Rs 3,000 crore were given to the welfare of minorities. But in this budget as if for name sake one scholarship scheme is announced by Bommai. This government does not give any importance to Christian, Jain and Buddhist communities. Now BJP government is about to open a residential school in the name of Sri Narayana Guru. The party which rejected the tableau of Sri Narayana Guru have resorted to opening residential school fearing the backlash of people.

“The revenue of the government from taxes and other sources is Rs 1,89,888 crore. Out of this Rs 40,000 crore goes for salaries, Rs 25,000 crore is interest, Rs 25,000 crore for pension and Rs 46,955 crore for capital expenditure. So Rs 1,41,000 crore goes in these expenditures. For development purpose the amount that remains is only Rs 45,000 crore. Rest everything is loan.

“The government said that they will hold a convention of investors. However, the law and order in the state is deteriorated. Communal violence is instigated by making one community hate the other. Under this scenario, who will be interested in investing in Karnataka? It is not possible for economy to grow in bloodshed. So the government should hold harmony convention before capital investment convention.

“By looking at the budget and the present law and order situation in the state, it is clear that CM Bommai is handicapped politically and financially. I would like to recall the words of Dr Ambedkar, who was an economist. He said ‘It is okay if you do not take further the chariot of development, which we have pulled so far. But do not pull it backwards’. I would like to advise this to the BJP government of Karnataka,” he said.

Referring to the chaos that erupted in car street college over the Hijab controversy, he said, “Name of Dakshina Kannada district is being spoilt in Hijab controversy. What is the district administration doing? Is it right to disrespect girls? When the boys of the college conduct atrocities, principal and administrative committee should take suitable action. Take stringent action against those who create an environment of fear. We want peace and harmony.” Khader also urged the deputy commissioner to depute high level officers for inquiry into the incident to know the truth.