India News | Budget Has No Relief for Layman: BJP

Chennai, Mar 25 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu budget for 2022 - 23 has not offered any relief for the common man, as it has failed to announce any subsidy to reduce the price of LPG cylinder, petrol and diesel, State BJP chief K Annamalai said on Friday.

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The decision of the DMK government in the State to alter the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar Memorial Marriage Assistance Scheme into a higher education assurance scheme denies young girls a substantial sum as assistance besides a sovereign gold for their wedding, he said.

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"Girls will not get Rs 25,000 or Rs 50,000 depending on their educational qualification. Moreover, the marriage assistance in addition to one-sovereign gold for 'thali' is low and the government has wound up this social welfare scheme," Annamalai said while addressing his partymen during a protest here against the State budget.

The transformation of the scheme would only provide a meagre Rs 1,000 per month to girl students to pursue higher education, he said. Though the budget allocated Rs 36,895 crore for the Department of School Education, 84 per cent of it would go towards salaries leaving a measly sum for improving infrastructure of government schools, he said.

Annamalai alleged that the budget reflected several central schemes of the Narendra Modi-led government like Skill India, Samagra Shiksha, one station, one product and rural road development programme. "Schemes like the Naan Mudhalvan, Illam Thedi Kalvi and rural road development were nothing but the Skill India, Samagra Shiksha and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. And the DMK government takes pride in its model of development," said the BJP leader.

He sought to know why Chief Minister M K Stalin should not join hands with the BJP-led government in implementing all the central schemes in the State. "There's no need for a separate budget for Tamil Nadu if you implement all the central schemes," Annamalai said.

Also, he alleged that the ruling DMK was trying to display a show of affinity to Hindus by announcing Rs 1,000 crore for 'kumbhabhishekam' (consecration) and renovating temples.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)