Reduced revenue deficit grant hurting Himachal: Agnihotri

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, when he was Chief Minister, had told the Central Government that it would be difficult to run the state with reducing revenue deficit grant (RDG), said Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri while taking part in the debate on the Budget proposals in the Assembly today.

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To Sullah MLA Vipin Parmar’s charge that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation and the RDG had reduced for all states, Agnihotri said that it didn’t change the fact that our government was getting much less RDG as compared to the previous BJP government. “The Jai Ram Thakur government got GST compensation and much higher RDG. It may be his luck, but the fact is that our government is getting much less RDG,” he added.

Bharmour MLA Janak Raj challenged the government to reveal how it was going to make the state self-reliant by 2027. “How is the state going to become self-reliant by 2027 and the most prosperous one by 2032? The Budget does not reveal the roadmap to make the state self-reliant by 2027,” he said while participating in the debate over the Budget proposals.

He said that the claim of making the state self-reliant becomes even more farfetched considering that, according to the Chief Minister, 2025-26 was going to be the most difficult financial year in the past many decades. “This government has just one full Budget to present next year, and the following Budget will be in the election year. So, how does this government plan to make the state self-reliant in just one Budget?” asked Janak Raj.