The AIADMK coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, on Friday termed the State Budget for 2022-23 disappointing.
Referring to a few announcements made by Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan in his speech during the presentation of the revised Budget last year, Mr. Panneerselvam, in a statement, said there was no follow up with regard to the proposal to constitute a high-level committee of educationists and experts on the formulation of State Education Policy and Sustainable Mining Policy to ensure that mining activity is carried out without affecting the environment and the ecology.
Contending that the government had not taken any steps to increase its revenue, Mr. Panneerselvam said the latest Budget did not lay down any norms either for additional revenue mobilisation or expenditure control. There was no mention of the DMK’s electoral promise of increasing the old age pension to ₹1,500 per month.
He complained that the outlays for Health and Family Welfare and Energy had been cut down by about ₹1,030 crore and ₹575 crore respectively, when compared to the revised Budget.
After leading a walk out of his party colleagues from the Assembly, the AIADMK co-coordinator and Leader of Opposition, Edappadi K. Palaniswami told reporters that even though the revenue of the government had gone up in the current year, the amount of borrowings also went up instead of declining. The Budget did not have anything to say about the ruling party’s electoral assurance of waiving educational loans for students and whether the committee of economic advisors consisting of Raghuram Rajan, had submitted any report to the government.
