PANJIM: The State Budget 2016-17 will be citizen friendly and lead to creation of employment, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said on Thursday. He added that every one of the government’s Budgets has been towards fulfilling election promises.
“The upcoming budget will be citizen friendly with more focus on employment creation,” Parsekar told media persons. “We have presented every Budget keeping in mind the election year. Our focus has been to fulfill the promises made during the last election,” the Chief Minister added.
Goa Governor Mridula Sinha has summoned the Budget Session from March 14 to 18. The Budget is likely to be presented on March 16.
Sources said that the Budget will be laced with announcements of a few more social schemes as this would be the last Budget before the Assembly elections. “Ours is basically a social scheme oriented State. So you can expect a few more schemes to be announced for the welfare of society,” sources said.
The Budget exercise has begun and the model of taxation and revenue generation is being worked out. Inputs from various departments have also been gathered. “The revenue from the mining industry would be calculated. But it cannot be to the volume it was earlier. We will have to see how much we can get from the iron ore exported during the coming financial year,” he said.
Meanwhile, reacting to Goa Dairy’s decision to approach the court against the entry of SUMUL, the Chief Minister said that ‘being a democratic country, everyone has the right to challenge any decision before the court’.
“We cannot stop them from going to court. If they want they are free to approach,” Parsekar said.
