Congress asked state finance minister Vaju Vala to give some relief to the common man by reducing tax on various important commodities.
The Opposition Congress on Tuesday asked state finance minister Vaju Vala to give some relief to the common man by reducing tax on various important commodities.
Initiating the debate on budgetary demands of the finance department in the assembly, senior Congress MLA Babu Shah, said, “This was Vaju Vala’s 18th budget. We expected him to give some relief to people, but he hasn’t done so. Rather than cutting VAT on pins or fittings, Vala should have shown a bigger heart.”
Shah also criticised the government for the rising debt levels. “The state’s public debt has increased to Rs1.29 lakh crore, which would increase to Rs1.81 lakh crore in 2014-15. A government can be said to be doing a good job if it reduces debt, but the opposite is happening here,” he said.
The former FM quipped that this was Vala’s last budget, and asked him to collect good wishes of the poor and deprived.
Taking part in the debate, Congress MLA from Porbandar, Arjun Modhwadia, said that previous governments used facility of overdraft at the time of need, but the current government had mounted huge long-term debts.
“Debt levels of the state are the highest. Revenues from VAT, stamp duty and electricity duty have gone up sharply in recent years, but so has debt. We wonder where all the money is going?” he questioned.
Modhwadia said that the government had announced meagre cut in VAT, but had failed to provide relief where it was most needed.
A heated exchange took place between Modhwadia and Vala after the former said that the government had provided sops of thousands of crores to corporates. Vala denied the charge and asked the Congress leader to table the proof of the matter in the assembly. In response, Modhwadia, said that the government had provided sops of Rs9,570 crore to Tata Group, and said that he would table the proof in the assembly.
Minister Saurabh Patel, said that state’s fiscal condition was much better than neighbouring Maharashtra. He quoted various figures showing that Gujarat fared better than even the Centre in terms of fiscal deficit, debt levels and planned expenditure. Cong MLAs shouted slogans demanding tabling of CAG report as Vaju Vala got up to reply to the debate. Vala said that Congress MLAs had made charges, but were not willing to listen to the reply. They also threw papers in the Well, and staged a walkout during voting on the demands of finance department.
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