The union budget 2009 has failed to impress the retail business community in the city. Summing up the general sentiment of the business class, Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, president of Bangalore Wholesale Food Grains and Pulses Merchants’ Association said, “This is just an ordinary budget.”
Commenting on the food security act which has been implemented in the budget, Lahoti said, “It is an excellent initiative but its implementation in different states is not going to be easy.”
National Food Security Act will ensure that 25 kg of rice or wheat, per month at Rs3 per kg, will be available to every family living below the poverty line in rural or urban areas.
However, the retail business community is happy with the fact that the budget has considered the removal of service tax on goods and transport on road. Lahoti further said that the national food security act has considered only rice and wheat when pulses should have also been considered. He also mentioned that when it comes to allotting lands for Special Economic Zones (SEZ), only barren plots of land should be given away.
Ramesh Chandra Lahoti’s brother Bhagavan Das said, “It is a pro-rich budget which completely shuns the middle class.The budget makes no mention of cutting down on price of food grains.”
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