Parrikar hails union budget

Sandesh Prabhudesai
28 February 2001  

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar described the budget as the unexpected positive shock different from the one experienced in Gujarat.

Among all, the BJP chief minister wholeheartedly welcomed the intensive fund fiscal reforms announced by the union finance minister Yeshwant Sinha, stating that Goa would immediately sign the MoU with the centre in this regard.

His predecessor Francisco Sardinha, who was running a coalition government with the BJP, had already announced an attractive VRS scheme for the government employees while working out a programme to trim down the administrative strength.

Goa is one of the few states where every 27th person is a government servant and over 50 per cent of its revenue expenditure is spent on paying salaries and pensions. Parrikar has already taken steps in this regard, stating that minimum 2.5 per cent employees would be downsized by year end.

Though the budget speech did not include an announcement of dividing income of salaried persons between spouses for the purpose of income tax based on the act prevailing in Goa, Parrikar said he would pursue the matter with the finance minister during his Delhi visit this week.

He has appreciated the excellent educational schemes announced in the budget while stating that the labour law reforms would help make the industry competitive and generate more employment.

Luizinho Faleiro, the state opposition leader, however criticised the budget as all cheers for the rich and tears for the poor. "It is anti-people, anti-farmer and anti-labour, benefiting only the rich industrial lobby", he said.

According to Faleiro, the mere jugglery of numbers would ultimately cripple the Indian economy further where common man will have to pay the price for it in future.

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