YSRCP's first Budget a farce, says Tulasi Reddy

Vijayawada: The YSR Congress government's flagship programme Navaratnalu lost its luster with some of them getting no allocation in the Budget and some others receiving meagre allocations, said Dr N Tulasi Reddy, vice-president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee.

Addressing the media here on Saturday, he said that one of the Navaratnalu, YSR Aasara scheme, which was intended to provide loan amount directly to the DWCRA women needs Rs 27,168 crore.

However, there was allocation of not even Rs 27 for the scheme in the Budget. There was no mention in the Budget about filling the 2.3 lakh vacancies as part of Yuvata-Upadhi Ratnam, he said. He pointed out that under YSR Jalayagnam scheme, the Budget allocation for the projects was Rs 13,139 crore which was cut down by 22 per cent vis-à-vis the previous Budget of 2018-19 presented by the TDP government.

The Chief Minister announced that house sites would be given to 25 lakh persons and every year five lakh houses would be built. However, only Rs 8,615 crore was allotted in the Budget as against the demand for Rs 15,000 crore for building five lakh houses. The allocation of Rs 1,750 crore was meagre to the YSR Arogyasri Ratnam, he said.

Dr Tulasi Reddy said that the total prohibition ratnam has turned a stone since the revenue from Excise department was shown as Rs 8,517 crore which is more than the previous year's earnings by Rs 2,297 crore.

The Chief Minister lost his credibility by allocating Rs 100 crore for zero interest loan scheme for farmers though he announced on July 8th on the occasion of the 70th birth anniversary of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy that the scheme would be allocated Rs 3,500 crore. Moreover, the Budget did not mention the funds of Rs 8,353 crore for agriculture loan waiver or Yuva Nestam scheme. In essence, the Budget turned into a farce, Dr Tulasi Reddy said.