Nothing new in budget: Nitish Kumar

FEBRUARY 28, 2007 PATNA: Expressing dissatisfaction over the Union budget presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram for 2007-08 in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday said that there was 'nothing new and special' in it. ''It is a thoroughly disappointing budget in all sectors, particularly in the fields of education and agriculture. I believe there is nothing new or special in it,'' Kumar told reporters while reacting to the budget. No effective measures have been proposed in the budget for checking price rise, Kumar said adding the proposals with respect to controlling inflation would have absolutely no impact. Taking a dig at the UPA government at the Centre, the Chief Minister said that the proposal to reduce the duties on the imported edible oil would also disappoint the farmers who were not going to gain any benefits out of it as their domestic product would face competition. Reacting to the budget, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio, expressed annoyance over non-inclusion of any special package for Bihar for which both the Houses of the state legislature had already adopted unanimous resolutions urging the Centre to bring the state under special category. ''Even the state government's demand for raising the allocation under the Rashtriya Sam Vikay Yojana (RSVY) from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 crore has not been fulfilled,'' Modi said. Saying that the proposal for declaring the railway bridge and road overbridge over the Ganga in Munger in Bihar was approved by the erstwhile NDA government, he demanded that the Centre take over the project for construction of road and railway bridge over Ganga in Patna connecting Digha with Sonepur. Kumar lamented that though the gross budgetary support was enhanced for the Union ministries, the states have been ignored