Union Minister for Power and Energy Raj Kumar Singh on Sunday said that the new Union budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is welfare and development-oriented one.
Speaking at an interactive programme organised by BJP, Assam Pradesh at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati, the Union Minister said, "The budget reflects the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government as what it intends to do to make the economy of the country vibrant and resilient."
"Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two and a half years, the economy of the country is growing at a fast rate of 9.2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and would reach a double-digit figure soon," Singh said.
Coming down heavily on the Congress party for terming the budget capitalist, the Union Minister questioned as to how the budget can be labelled capitalist when it has made huge provisions for infrastructure development, dwelling units for poor people, health insurance for poor and marginalised segments of society, electrification and piped water connections for poor rural households, cooking gas connections for poor people, creation of jobs through whopping investments in the public sector.
"The BJP-led NDA government is wholly committed to sustainable development in Assam and the North East Region by making huge provisions in roads infrastructure, ropeway in inaccessible areas and other sectors to the tune of Rs 2, 800 crores," he said.
Singh appreciated the Assam Power Department for good progress on the power front and appealed to all other states' CMs to follow the Assam government's initiative on power sector development.
The Union Minister disclosed that 24 new road projects have been taken up to the tune of over Rs 20,000 crore for Assam in this year's budget. Agriculture clusters along with four mega food parks for Assam have been included in the budget.
He also revealed the allocations for other states of the Northeast for 2022-2023.
Singh complimented the present state government for the progress in the power sector. He said that there has been a drastic reduction in transmission losses with enhanced efficiency levels together with good progress in the electrification of rural households.
Singh said that he had written to Chief Ministers of other states to take a leaf out of Assam on the progress it has made in the power sector.
He also said that the left out households numbering around four lakh have been included and work is going on in full swing.
"Unlike the family-centric parties, the BJP party's sole mantra is development and making the country one of the biggest economies of the world," he said.
"Whopping investments in the infrastructure sector, creation of jobs, direct and indirect, through Make in India programme, building new roads, factories, railway lines, the introduction of 400 numbers of Vande Mataram trains, etc are aimed at making India the fastest growing economies of the world," Singh added.
He also mentioned that in the defence sector, 68 per cent of the capital expenditure will be procured from the local market making Atmanirbhar Bharat.
"Our aim is to make the GDP double-digit from 9.2 per cent in the days ahead," he quipped.
Earlier, in his address, Assam BJP president Bhabesh Kalita said that the new budget is development-oriented with a focus on every sector.
"The new budget will further strengthen the economy of the country, including the Northeast Region," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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