'Not budget of a country but of Congress' say Counsellors of Gurgaon

01 March, 2013

After the Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented the budget on February 28, almost all counsellors of MCG have expressed their dissatisfaction with it. As per them, in this budget there is nothing that can please the common man, and that 'it was not a budget of a country but the budget of Congress.'

This budget is a budget of Congress and of no use for common man. This budget is a harassment for the common man," Counsellor of ward 14 Sunita Kataria told this citizen journalist . She also added that the Congress made this budget just for its own benefit, and that there is nothing for farmers and people below poverty line.

On establishing special banks for women Sunita said that there is no use of having these banks as all banks are already providing the same services. "We do not need special banks. We can avail same services from any bank. This is just a waste of money," she said.

Counsellor Mangat Ram Bagadi of ward 10 believes that in this budget there is nothing to control inflation. "Finance ministry has made no effort to put hold on inflation in this budget. Finance minister P Chidambaram just gave a lolly pop to the common man," said Bagadi.

He said that though Finance Minister increased the food security budget, he has not taken concrete steps to improve food supply process. He added that government has just made people a fool by announcing increase in the budget of Education and Health, which is of no use. "In previous budget also government promised focus on health and education and made many plans and budget - but till now no plans have been implemented," Bagadi added.

As per Bagadi, today the major concern in front of the common man is rising inflation and almost 80 percent people spend more than their income because of inflation due to which they are going under debt. and still are not able to fulfil their basic needs. "The government has put extra tax on super rich people but has not clarified where they will invest and use the revenue coming form these taxes, which creates doubt on this budget," Bagadi observed.

On other side Seema Pahuja, counsellor of ward 11, though not much satisfied with the budget praised some part of the budget. "Budget is just fine. Neither much satisfied and nor much of dissatisfaction. It is true that it is not for 'aam aadmi' but still there are many things which are praise-worthy. I like the concept of special banks for women, increasing the number of subsidised LPG cylinders from 6-9, Rajiv Gandhi Yojna for education," Pahuja told this citizen journalist.

She said it is a mixed budget though it will benefit higher income people more and not the common man. But both Seema Pahuja and Sunita Kataria have the same concern - that of women protection which got no place and priority in this budget. "There is no provision made for women protection in this budget. No budget was allocated for hiring more police or women police and not provision for their training. This is a big issue which they should take into consideration," said Kataria.