Budget not in people's interest: Front

Kolkata, Feb 28 (UNI) West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta today described the Union budget for 2007-08 as uninteresting while Left Front Chairman Biman Basu called it a glossy foil pack hiding the "anti people" proposals inside.

"There is no reason why people should be enthusiastic about this budget because it has failed to address the problems of unemployment, inflation and price rise," Mr.Dasgupta told reporters at the Writers' Buildings.

He said in curbing inflation, the Centre should not only examine its previous decisions of allowing corporate houses and FDI in retail trade, but also come out with a complete course of action in closely interacting with states for extending overall public distribution system in essential commodities.

From the point of view of West Bengal, the budget had not also mentioned anything significant for the development of the state, he said.

Left Front Chairman Biman Basu observed that though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram had assured of a 'people-oriented' general budget, the proposals would not cater to the country's overall development.

"This budget is like an aluminium foil cover. What is there inside will be known only after the cover is removed," he said.

"This is an anti-people budget and the Centre has failed to take any concrete step on farming, education, unemployment and public distribution system," he said.

Referring to a query, Mr Bose replied that the budget could cast influence on the coming UP Assembly election.

UNI