SRINAGAR: Opposition Congress in Jammu and Kashmir today criticised the State budget, alleging it lacks vision or direction to steer the State out of the “economic problems”.
“The budget presented by Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu yesterday has no vision or direction to deal with economic problems of the State,” party MLA Nawang Rigzin Jora said during general discussion on the budget proposals in the State Assembly here.
The Congress leader also hit out at the Finance Minister for raking up the provident fund mismanagement over the past 30 years in the State.
“You were the economic advisor to two Chief Ministers (Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Ghulam Nabi Azad from 2002 to 2008). Why did you not make the suggestions (on managing provident fund) then?” Jora said.
In his budget speech, Drabu criticised the way the provident fund of Government employees was handled in the past saying it was a classic case of “Ponzi game”.
Jora said the Government should move beyond a few small steps taken for the welfare of women folk and introduce gender budgeting in the State.
“When I said move beyond constructing toilets and police stations (for women), I did not mean to say that don’t do these things. The Government should have gone for gender budgeting. Fifty per cent of your population is women. Create a cell in the planning department and make 50 per cent fund allocation for women in the budget,” he said. (AGENCIES)
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