Karnataka Budget on July 19

The first state Budget of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government will be presented on July 19, according to deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio.

Confirming this, Siddaramaiah said that the Budget will be based on the policy of "reforms with a human face".

Without disclosing details, Siddaramaiah told mediapersons that it would be a "pro-poor and pro-farmer budget". Stating that it was well within his powers to introduce policies and programmes and not present a supplementary budget, Siddaramaiah ruled out the introduction of VAT (value added tax) this year.

According to him, a consensus had been arrived at by the Empowered Committee meeting chaired by the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram to introduce VAT from April 1, 2005.

The minister also said that the excise year, which was scheduled to commence in July, will now begin from August. Siddaramaiah, who also holds the excise portfolio, ruled out implementing the Karnataka High Court order to permit 500 new bars and liquor shops depending upon the need.

The minister said that his priority was to see that excise duty was paid on all the liquor being sold in the state. He also expressed happiness over the increase in excise revenue because of the strict vigilance on the sale of "seconds" and "thirds".

On implementing the assurance in the JD-S manifesto to ban online lotteries, he said that a decision would be taken before presenting the Budget.

This is because he had called for a report from official about pending arrears of lottery promoters as well as the legal aspects involved in ending the contract for conducting online lotteries.

The minister said that he would look into the charge that many of the 1,200 cinema theatres in the state were defrauding the government by evading entertainment tax of nearly Rs 300 crore a year in connivance of the officers concerned.