Rs 3 cr budget to generate 8 lakh addl employment

Kolkata, Mar 16 (UNI) A Rs three crore deficit budget was placed in the West Bengal Assembly today by the state finance minister with the main purpose of generating 8,00,000 thousand additional employment and increasing the general public income.

Presenting the annual budget for 2007-08, state Finance Minister Ashim Dasgupta said of the total budgetary proposal for Rs 46,214 crore, a total amount of Rs 10,224 crore has been set aside for the planned budget proposal with a hike of 22 per cent.

He said though the total deficit of the budget was estimated at Rs 153 crore, with the proposed additional resource mobilisation of Rs 150 crore the final deficit would amount to only Rs three crore.

He said of the proposed eight lakh new employment generation by next year, the maximum 4.5 lakh would be created in the SME and the SSI sectors followed by about three lakh in the agricultural sector and the remaining 50,000 in the organised industrial sector in the state.

This apart, he said, steps were being taken to create nearly 20,000 more jobs for the state government employees who would also be given an additional three per cent D A.

Claiming that West Bengal was the only state in the country which had been able to reduce the rate of unemployment from nearly 40 lakhs last year to 33.37 lakhs this year was all set to reduce it further.

Referring to the tax scenario, the finance minister had proposed huge tax cut in several items including that for auto spare parts electric fan, airconditioners and plywood items from the present 12.5 per cent VAT to four per cent.

Though he had marginally increased taxes on cigarettes, costly flats of over Rs 25 lakhs and on country liquor, the finance minister said imposition of taxes would impose an additional burden on the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 150 crore while in terms of revenue generation it would be in the range of Rs 147 crore.

Regarding the payment of Dearness Allowance to the government employees, Dr Dasgupta said it would cost the state exchequer to the tune of Rs 378 crore.

Similarly, the 25 per cent increase of government's financial assistance to the closed government factories and workshops had been increased from Rs 500 per month to Rs 750 per month during the next financial year costing the state government around Rs 178 crore more, Dr Das Gupta added.

Todays' two-hour long budget was boycotted by the entire opposition, comprising the Trinamool Congress and the SUCI members, to protest the Nandigram mayhem on March 14.

UNI