STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Union Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy, Raj Kumar Singh said on Wednesday that the new Budget of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government is a welfare-oriented and development-oriented one.
Singh made this observation while attending an interactive programme organized by the State BJP at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra here on Sunday during his one-day visit to Assam.
The Union Minister said the Budget reflects the vision of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government as to what it intends to do to make India's economy vibrant and resilient. He said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two-and-a-half years, the economy of the country is growing at a fast rate of 9.2 % of GDP and would reach the double-digit figure soon.
Coming down heavily on the Congress party for terming the Budget as capitalist, the Union Minister questioned as to how the Budget can be labeled capitalist when it has made huge provisions for infrastructure development, dwelling units for poor people, health insurance for poor and marginalized segments of society, electrification and piped water connections for poor rural households, cooking gas connections for poor people, creation of jobs through whopping investments in the public sector.
Singh said that the-BJP led NDA Government is wholly committed to sustainable development in Assam and the North-East by making huge provisions in roads infrastructure, ropeway in inaccessible areas and other sectors to the tune of Rs.2, 800 crore.
Singh appreciated the State's Power Department for good progress on the power front and appealed to all other States' Chief Ministers to follow the Assam Government's initiative on power sector development.
He said that in Assam, there has been drastic reduction in transmission losses with enhanced efficiency level, together with good progress in electrification of rural households. Singh said that he had written to Chief Ministers of other States to take a leaf out of Assam's book on the progress it has made in the power sector. He also said that the left-out households, which are around four lakh, have been included and work is going on in full swing.
The Union Minister disclosed that 24 new road projects have been taken up to the tune of over Rs 20,000 crore for Assam in this year's Budget. Agriculture clusters along with four mega food parks for Assam have been included in the Budget. He also dwelt on the allocations for other States of the North-East for 2022-2023.
Unlike the family-centric parties, the BJP party's sole mantra is development and making the country one of the biggest economies of the world.
"Whopping investments in the infrastructure sector, creation of jobs, direct and indirect, through Make in India programme, building new roads, factories, railway lines, introduction of 400 numbers of Vande Mataram trains, etc are aimed at making India the fastest-growing economy of the world. He also mentioned that in Defence sector, 68% of the capital expenditure will be procured from the local market, making Atmanirbhar Bharat. Our aim is to make the GDP double digit from 9.2 per cent in the days ahead," he said.
Earlier, in his address, State BJP president Bhabesh Kalita said that the new Budget is development-oriented with focus on every sector. "The new Budget will further strengthen the economy of the country, including the North-East Region," he said.
Kalita thanked the Union Minister for coming to Guwahati to attend the interactive session with businessmen and leading citizens and hoped the deliberations would be fruitful.
State Minister for Power, Bimal Bora, Saha Prabhari, BJP Assam Pradesh, Pawan Sharma, vice-president Ashok Bhattarai were also present on the occasion.
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