Maharashtra government on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget terming it a disappointment and raising the issue of non-payment of GST dues to the State at a time when the Union Finance Minister boasted of increased collection of the GST.
“Out of ₹2.20 lakh crore GST collected by the centre in ongoing fiscal, Maharashtra has contributed ₹48,000 crore. Out of this, the State has received barely ₹5500 crore as repayment. This is nothing but injustice. One might even search but wouldn’t find anything in this Budget for Maharashtra,” said State Finance minister and deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Mr. Pawar pointed out that as of January 21, the State was to receive ₹30,000 crore of GST dues from the Central government.
Mr. Pawar said that the claim of this budget being the blueprint of development for next 25 years is meaningless. “The only attempt here is to appease people in five States where the elections are due,” he said.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too while raising the issue of non-payment of GST dues said that the insecurity in the minds of citizens in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic has not been addressed by the Central government. “Forget about 2047, but this government had promised doubling of farmers’ income by 2022 and home to everyone. It had also promised to make India’s economy at five trillion dollars. The budget talks nothing about this neither it shows the way forward. It seems the Centre itself has forgotten about its promises and is now jumping on new ones,” said Mr. Thackeray. Both CM and DCM pointed out that middle-class lost its hope as no changes were suggested tax slabs.
Maharashtra unit of Congress too slammed the Union Budget terming it misguided and directionless. “The market will pickup only when there is money in the hands of the people. But the Budget lacks any strategy on achieving that,” said State Congress president Nana Patole.