Virbhadra not impressed by Jaitley budget

Shimla : Himachal chief minister Virbhadra Singh said the union budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley Thursday was far below expectations .

“The budget is not growth oriented . There are no effective steps announced to check price rise,” the six time chief minister said .

“Himachal should have got preference in the budget for organic farming, tourism and extension of central industrial package,” he said .
He said the target of fiscal deficit of 4.1 percent has now gone up to 4.5 percent which would mean more borrowings resulting in further rise in prices.
Virbhadra doubted the adequacy of provision of Rs 1000 crore made in the budget for One Rank One Pension scheme.

He said that this scheme was approved by the UPA government and required higher level of funding.

“The increase in the income tax slab was marginal and would not give relief to the tax payers,” he added.

But the chief minister welcomed the announcement of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) for Himachal Pradesh.