Mangaluru: What seemed to be the most awaited moment among the citizens of the state has sadly turned out to be severe disappointment as CM Siddaramaiah seems to have merely let down the people of his state, with the 15th budget which, when presented, showed as just a fluff.
Perhaps the only people who the budget has managed to satisfy are the fishers, for whom the minister has given something to hope for through his budget, with an investment of Rs 3,000 crore for their overall development.
Besides this, the state will also increase its compensation to fishermen at the time of seasonal bans, bringing the amount from Rs 1500 to Rs 3000. In addition to that, the state will also extend some financial assistance to 10000 homeless fishermen, helping them build homes.
The rest of the coast seemed to find no substance in the budget, which lacked any of the key promises that the minister had made to the people during the poll manifesto at the coast.
Citizens were looking forward to a roadmap to making the place an IT capital, which was nowhere in the budget.
Ananthesh V Prabhu, who is the president of the Kanara chamber of the commerce and industry (KCCI) didn’t hesitate to show his disappointment on this. He also mentioned how the budget missed out another major key point, the reduction of stamp duty on mortgage of property to banks.
The president, however, did appreciate the budget, saying that it did include some good initiatives, and hopes that it will soon bring in the rest.
There was a promise of creating a garment industry hub to generate at least one lakh jobs for the people here, which was again missing.
Instead, the minister introduced a mega textile park of 1000 acres in Kalaburagi, which would take the form of a public private ownership .While the park would bring about a lakh direct employment and two lakh indirect employment opportunities, this is not what the citizens hoped to see in the CM they looked up to so far.
The tourism sector also seems to be disappointed, with Eulalia D’souza, proprietor of Leila travels and tours stating that the tourism industry’s stakeholders have nothing to look forward to.
The industry was sure expecting something in the budget to make the business smooth and easy, like single window clearance, better infrastructure to make lesser known destinations more attractive and most importantly, hassle free entry and exit to aid foreign tourists coming to visit the country.
But there was no mention of any of it.
The Canara Plastic Manufacturers Association too shows its disappointment with the president BA Nazeer complaining that he was looking for something that would help the industry in these post covid days, like a single window mechanism, stimulus package, and an integrated township for smoother traffic.
Again, there was none of it.
However, amidst all the disappointment, let’s not ignore the good things that the minister has come up with, like free water and electricity that government schools and colleges can now look forward to. This has greatly reduced the burden on teachers, alumni and locals that had up till now, borne this responsibility.
Institutions can now use their money on other developmental projects to build and bring up their colleges and schools.
The budget has also made provisions to recruit more teachers and lecturers in these colleges and schools, to keep students from opting for private schools and colleges. Existing teachers can also enjoy some relief as they share their workload, which will help them impart quality education too.
In other words, the educational sector can be happy, and so can the agricultural sector, with a plan for a modem agricultural complex at the Nellikai road (the budget has set aside an amount of 35 crores for this)
The Mangalore port has something to look forward to, with the construction of dedicated economic corridors connecting it to Bangalore. There will also be a mega port at Pavinakure in Uttara Kannada.
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