Interim budget neglected northeast India: Tripura government
Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 18:48 IST
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Agartala: Terming the interim budget of the central government a "poll lollipop", the Left Front government in Tripura Tuesday said it largely neglected the northeastern region. The budget is "a political agenda ahead of the general elections and no programme to deal with the crucial economic issues of the northeastern region in view of the slowdown", Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury told reporters. "For the first time in many years, no additional allocation was made in the interim budget for the backward northeastern region," he said. The minister added that the central government neglected the region because the Congress party "might have no chance to win any Lok Sabha seat from the northeast". Chowdhury, also a member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) central committee, blamed the United Progressive Alliance government for not allocating adequate funds for the public distribution system, creation of jobs and for enhancing people's income. "The budget is simply a poll lollipop. It's an election oriented budget without any realistic basics of economy and after the general elections people would face a dangerous economic situation," he said. -
Source: IANS
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