Rs 39 lakh tax-free deficit budget in Sikkim

Gangtok, Mar 5 (UNI) Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling, also the state Finance Minister, today tabled a Rs 39 lakh tax-free deficit budget for 2008-09 in the state Assembly.

Five Amendment Bills and one Health Bill were also presented on the first day.

The Amendment Bills were Sikkim Anti-Drugs (Amendment) Bill, Sikkim Registration of Companies (Amendment) Bill, Sikkim Ecology and Environment Cess (Amendment) Bill, Sikkim Labour Protection (Amendment) Bill and Sikkim Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill.

Health Minister Hissey Lachungpa introduced the Sikkim Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Bill.

'' Our focus will be on completion of all the ongoing projects, which will narrow down the huge spillover liabilities at hand, '' said the Chief Minister in his budget speech.

Mr Chamling also put on record that this budget would be the last budget of the SDF Government.

The SDF under Mr Chamling will be completing its record 15th year of governance in Sikkim next year.

The Chief Minister said his government's successive budgets had been meticulously formulated duly keeping in mind the aspirations of the Sikkimese.

Stating that Sikkim had made tremendous strides, he said due to a huge foreign investment, the per capita private investment in Sikkim would reach an insurmountable height.

The House also unanimously adopted a resolution seeking reservation of seats of Limboo-Tamang tribal communities in the Sikkim Legislative Assembly.

Health Minister Hissey Lachungpa introduced the resolution, which was supported by three other SDF MLAs and the lone Opposition member Acharya Tshering Lama.

The Centre was requested to urgently provide seats to the Limboo and Tamang communities in the Sikkim Assembly as STs in the resolution adopted today.

The Sikkim Government had repeatedly requested the Centre to make provisions for reservation of the above two communities in the state Assembly as ST.

However, the two tribal communities were left out in the new Delimitation report of Sikkim and no reservations were marked out in the newly drawn 31 constituencies of the state.

The Limboo and Tamang communities were declared as STs in 2003 and were still awaiting their political rights in the Assembly.

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