Chief minister Nitish Kumar pays floral tributes to Deshratna Rajendra Prasad at Bansh Ghat in Patna on Monday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Feb. 28: The general budget holds out hope for a few backward areas of Bihar, but the state feels it has received a raw deal as Assembly elections are over.

From chief minister Nitish Kumar to his deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, NDA leaders say Pranab Mukherjee has let them down and not done enough for the state’s development.

The budget has certain provisions from which the state could gain significantly. The most significant of these is the finance minister’s decision to increase the allocation under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) from Rs 7,300 crore to Rs 9,890 crore, a jump of over 35 per cent.

Seven districts of Bihar— all of them Maoist-affected—are the beneficiaries of BRGF which was set up with the specific objective of imparting a fillip to the development of backward regions.The Centre recently gave Rs 175 crore for the welfare of these seven districts — Rohtas, Kaimur, Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Arwal, Jamui and Banka.

But the state government isn’t satisfied — it wants 20 more districts to be brought under the BRGF umbrella.

The chief minister said as much when he described the budget as “disappointing” because it had no initiative for development in the state. Nitish said the Centre had again turned a deaf ear to the demand for special category status to Bihar. “There is no promise in this regard,” Nitish said.

The state's demand for allocation of Rs 4,000 crore per annum under the BRGF in the next five-year plan period too had been ignored, the chief minister said, adding that there was no proposal for promoting agriculture as well.

Nitish said the budget had offered sops only for election-bound states and had little on how to tackle corruption or how to bring back black money stashed away in banks abroad.

“It is completely disappointing and not promising for ensuring growth everywhere in the country... it has sops for poll-bound states and lacks due attention which is required for maintaining regional balance,” Nitish said.

As an example, he pointed out that the budget had allotted funds for the upcoming Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) centres in Bengal and Kerala where elections are due.

“Even Bihar is opening an AMU but no fund has been allotted to us. This shows that our state has been neglected,” the chief minister said.

The chief minister said the Centre had failed to announce cash subsidy for beneficiaries of foodgrain distribution.

“The allocation of funds of Rs 21,000 crore for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is also too little to cater to the state’s requirements. I will request the Prime Minister to help the state financially in the next five-year plan,” he said.

There was also no mention about how to control the price escalation and the measures to be taken for eradication of poverty and creation of job avenues, he said.

“The issue of price rise and inflation was not considered in the budget. It will result in further increase in inflation, which is rampant at every level,” Nitish said.

Nitish also said no steps had been taken to fight corruption or bring back black money hidden abroad. “I am shocked that not a single word has been said about it in the budget. Nor did it speak about ways to curb corruption.”

Nitish’s deputy, Sushil Modi, also criticised the budget for neglecting Bihar.

The budget has nothing for Bihar though it had loosened purse strings liberally for five-poll bound states, including Bengal, for electoral benefits, Modi said.

The Centre appeared unconcerned with the difficulties of the common man, as there was no decision or promise on reduction of the import duty on crude oil in the budget, Modi said.

The Centre was so oblivious of the plight of the people that it has imposed excise duties on 130 goods, added Modi, who, as Bihar’s finance minister, was himself forced to raise taxes on a few goods in the state budget presented on Friday.