Shimla, Mar 4 (PTI) The opposition Congress has flayed the Himachal Pradesh budget presented in the state Assembly on Friday by terming it a "bundle of lies", whereas the ruling BJP hailed it as the "realistic and pro-people."

In the election year, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, who also holds the state's finance portfolio, presented a Rs 51,365-crore budget for the financial year 2022-23 against the 49,131-crore budget in 2021-22.

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The leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri alleged that the BJP government had made Himachal insolvent. The Chief Minister failed to provide any permanent solution in the budget to any of the problems being faced by the Himachal people.

This budget is a disappointment for the employees as well as the masses, he alleged.

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Mandi MP Pratibha Singh said that the government tried to make the budget pro-public but it seemed that Chief Minister would not implement the announcements made in the budget.

The state Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathour said that CM Thakur made an unsuccessful attempt to woo the public in the budget tabled in the election year. No positive initiative has been mentioned in the budget to check unemployment and inflation, he added.

The lone CPM MLA Rakesh Singha termed the budget directionless. He said that the government announced several relaxations for different categories but did not mention where it would get money for that.

Thus the debt burden on the hill state will further increase, he added.

On the other hand, Parliamentary and Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj hailed the budget as "realistic and pro-people".

The budget has provision for an urban job guarantee scheme and Himachal will be the first state in the country to enact MGNREGA like law for the urban area, he said.

The minister, who also holds charge of the cooperation department, said “Every section of the society will be benefitted from the budget.”

The minister said the BJP government in the state has been working for the betterment of all sections of the society without any discrimination.

Elaborating about urban development and cooperation departments, the minister said the 'Mukhya Mantri Urban Livelihood Guarantee Scheme' was launched in 2020 to employ urban youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This scheme will be continued in 2022-23 with a budgetary allocation of Rs5 crore,” he said.

He said a bill providing for guaranteed employment for urban unemployed providing for eligibility and other conditions will be introduced in the current budget session.

The state BJP chief and Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap said that budget has focussed on the overall development of Himachal Pradesh as it has taken care of every section of the society.

A large section of the society will be benefitted a lot like the age limit for old-age pension has been reduced to 60 years from the current 70 years, he added.

(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)