Oppostion parties slam 50 pc hike in luxury tax

The Congress and BJP slammed the AAP’s maiden Budget presented on Thursday as unrealistic and slammed the proposed 50 per cent hike in luxury tax.

Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken termed Arvind Kejriwal government’s Budget as bogus. “The whole Budget has been made on unrealistic revenue forecasts,” Maken said. He criticised the announcement to create the Delhi Urban Development Agency.

“As it is due to multiplicity of agencies in Delhi, development works get delayed, with the addition of another agency it will not help but only add to delays in developmental work,” he said. He condemned the Budget for insignificant allocation for providing free Wi-Fi hotspots. “Sanctioning a mere Rs 50 crore for providing free internet in colleges and villages is like making a joke of the promise that had been made to the people of Delhi,” he said.

Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay said the Budget is a gimmick. It is more or less a continuation of AAP’s election speeches, he said.

“They talked a lot on Budget expenses through mohalla sabhas and when the chance to implement came, only 0.65 per cent of the Budget expenditure, that is just Rs 253 crore, has been given for this Swaraj Fund,” he said.

In the education sector too, the Rs 9,000 crore budget is a farce, he added. “Most of the fund amount will go to new building funds or new teachers’ salary. How will the standard of education improve?”

Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta of the BJP said, “The steps taken by the government to increase revenue will bring new burden on the people.”

“An additional congestion tax of Rs 100 to Rs 1,500 has been imposed on entry of all commercial vehicles in Delhi, which will increase the prices of essential commodities like milk, fruits and vegetables,” he said.

Gupta said entertainment tax has been doubled and this will affect every common man. Similarly, 50 per cent increasein luxury tax on hotels and restaurant food bills will affect the middle class a lot.

Upadhyay said the health sector allocation in the Budget is misleading. “They claim 10,000 new beds will be added in hospitals in the next 30 months, which means 300 beds, almost one new hospital every month without any mention of any new big hospital project.”