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Assam chief minister Tarun Gogol has termed the 2015-16 general budget as "pro-rich" and "pro-corporate" and said "it got no element of getting acche din" for common people. Gogoi said that people of Assam expected more but the budget did not "give anything substantial".
On the enhanced fund allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the budget, Gogoi said that it was done because of the pressure from opposition parties, including Congress party.
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"The people of Assam and Northeast found no reason to cheer as the budget remained silent on the steps for employment generation, flood and erosion. Relief to the agrarian class should have been more if the Centre really wanted to bring acche din especially to 75 per cent of the people of Assam who are associated with agriculture. Instead of bringing black money back, the Centre has resorted to an escape route and assured a legislation to deal with black money," said Gogoi.
Gogoi also said that though the state government had demanded steps for strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in Assam, the budget provided no incentives to the MSME sector thus delving a blow to the efforts of the state government in employment generation.
On the budget announcement to set up All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Assam, Gogoi said the announcement was to "hoodwink" the people of Assam.
Gogoi, however, thanked the 14th Finance Commission for increasing the devolution of fund to the states to 42 per cent.
