Centre plans Budget track to woo UP electorate

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh is in for some pampering in the forthcoming Union and Railway Budgets. In a bid to win over the electorate in the poll-bound state, the Centre is likely to announce a plethora of sops for UP including new trains, railway lines, roads and incentive schemes for carpet weavers and other handicrafts.

Speaking to ET, sources said that since the Election Commission had not announced the dates for polling in UP yet, the Centre was well within its rights to announce as many sops for the state as it desired. “The UPA government will try its best to appease the UP electorate in the Railway and Union Budgets to be announced next week,” an official said.

One sure shot way of warming up to the masses is to announce new trains and construction of new rail lines besides new programmes for roads. Sources said that UP was likely to get more than its fair share of new trains in the railway budget. “UP can look forward to better rail connectivity in the coming fiscal. The Railway Budget will certainly include major plans for the state,” the official said.

The finance minister P Chidambaram is likely to announce specific projects for the state including construction of new roads in the Union Budget. “New projects not only improve infrastructure but also generate jobs. Such announcements are always welcome by the people,” the official added. Incentives may also be in store for carpet weavers, the leather sector and the handicraft industry like brassware and glass-product manufacturers. Mr Chidambaram has already indicated that the government would give sops to boost employment generation sectors.

And, since sectors like leather and handicraft are considered major employment generators, the budget may unveil a surprise package for them. Already, the government has given cluster status to the specific areas where carpet, brassware, leather products are manufactured in UP. Whether the sops manage to produce a win for the Congress in UP is hard to guess at the moment, but for the voters it certainly may turn out to be a win-win situation.