Budget 2019 is completely visionless: Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday called the Union Budget "completely visionless" which will increase the sufferings of the common people.

"#Budget2019 is completely visionless. In fact, the total vision is derailed. On top of it, not only have they imposed cess but also special additional excise duty on petrol and diesel leading to price increase by nearly Rs 2.50/litre for petrol and Rs 2.30/litre for diesel. As a result, price hikes will hit from transport to market to kitchens. Commoners are suffering and suffering," Banerjee, also Trinamool Congress supremo, said in a tweet.

TMC Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O' Brien said the government is still selling dreams and not delivering.


"Far from a dream, it is (budget) a nightmare for common people who are suffering," he said.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on the super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, start-ups and electric vehicles.

Presenting the maiden Budget of Modi 2.0 government in Lok Sabha, Sitharaman, the first full-time woman finance minister, proposed measures to ease liquidity crisis facing the shadow banking sector (NBFCs) and providing Rs 70,000 crore capital to public sector banks while seeking to raise additional resources through privatisation of some PSUs.