Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday praised the Union budget for the emphasis on agriculture and health cover for the poor, but economists of Bihar said the "double engine government" - same alliance ruling state and Centre - has not delivered the goods and they expected more.

"Bihar seems to be out of the frame of the Union budget," said noted economist Shaibal Gupta, who, however, said that the Union budget was "good for the NDA".

Gupta said it was an election budget and not the hard budget Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked about. "But even for revival of agriculture, one needs to strengthen the irrigation system. The health cover is good for the people, but the insurance cover will help the private sector. More emphasis should have been given in strengthening the primary health centres," he added.

Incidentally, quite a few private players in the health sector have shown interest in setting up units in Bihar.

P.K. Agrawal, president of the Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries, called it a pro farmer and pro poor budget. "But there seems nothing specific for Bihar," he added.

Unlike previous Union budget speeches where Bihar found mention - such as funding of Satyagraha anniversary functions, setting up of Vikramshila University in Bhagalpur and a second AIIMS in Bihar - this time the state did not figure in the Union finance minister's speech.

"Bihar was treated like any other state. It was disappointing since we expected the Centre to be more generous as the NDA government was formed after overturning the people's mandate in 2015," remarked a JDU leader under cover of anonymity pointing out that the party had virtually forsaken its demand for special category status to Bihar.

The big picture on budget was still hazy on Thursday. People were still hopeful that Bihar would befit from the announcements of having a medical college in every three parliamentary constituencies and promoting heritage cities.

"We will have to go into the finer details of the budget especially the budgetary allotments made for construction of roads, bridges, airport and other infrastructure in the PM's economic package for Bihar," said an economist who did not want to be identified. "But one thing is sure - that Bihar has not received the special treatment it had expected from the political development in July 2017."

Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi had earlier stated that no Union budget is state specific. "But once the friction eases off, business with the Centre becomes easier," he had maintained.