Opposition leaders on Friday crit icised the State Budget for 2026–27 presented by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, terming it a repe tition of earlier announce ments and questioning the government’s ability to implement its promises, even as the Chief Minister defended the financial plan as inclusive and develop ment-oriented. Reacting to the budget ta bled in the Goa Legislative Assembly, Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas said similar assurances had been made in previous budgets but had not been implemented on the ground. “Last year also a similar budget was presented, but there was no implementa tion. Making promises and Last year also a delivering are two different things. People do not re quire assurances. Nothing great has been noticed in the budget. Big announce ments are made but even there are no work orders.
There is no execution on the ground,” he said. Fatorda MLA Vijai Sarde sai described the budget as “old wine in a new bottle”, claiming the announce ments were aimed at ap pealing to different sec tions of society ahead of elections. “This is nothing but old wine in a new bottle. It is an election year budget. Announcements have been made to appease people belonging to all communi ties. But if we look at the action taken report on last year’s announcements, even those have not been implemented. Announcements do not mean they will be executed,” Sardesai said. He also expressed con cern over issues affecting the tourism sector. “Everything now de pends on oil. Commercial cooking gas supply has been halted. Ours is a tour ism-based state. Where will tourism go now? Pro vision will have to be made, otherwise the entire indus try will collapse,” he added. Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao dismissed the budget as hollow and mis leading. “This is not a ‘Ghatmut’ (strong) budget but a ‘Jhut mut’ (false) budget filled with empty promises,” Ale mao said, adding that the government had failed to clarify the sources of funds while carrying a heavy debt burden. “What is provided is peanuts and chicken-feed. Seventy percent of revenue is already locked into sala ries, pensions, social wel fare commitments and in terest payments,” he noted.
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Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party Goa president Valmiki Naik said the budget lacked accountability and failed to address key issues. “Unfortunately, there were only announcements and no accountability in the BJP government’s budget. A budget can not be just a list of empty promises. It also needs to report achievements and outcomes of the pre vious year’s budget. To day’s budget was a failure because even the empty promises were the same as those in previous budgets,” Naik said. He further claimed that solutions to major issues such as unemployment, price rise and law and or der were missing. “Solutions to major is sues facing Goa, such as unemployment, price rise and crumbling law and order, were com pletely missing. The only bright spot in this oth erwise bleak budget was the promise to increase coverage and procedures under the Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana, which appears to be a re action to AAP’s campaign to improve healthcare in Goa,” he added.
Defending the budget, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the financial plan was inclusive and addressed the needs of all sections of society. “The budget has some thing for all sections of so ciety. If you see the budg ets presented by me over the past few years, I have not imposed new taxes. Revenue has increased by plugging leakages. When I presented my first budget, it was around Rs 19,000 crore, which has now increased to around Rs 30,000 crore. This means there has been an increase of Rs 11,000 crore,” Sawant said. He maintained that the government remains com mitted to development while ensuring fiscal stability and welfare sup port for citizens across sectors.
