Shimla, Mar 15: Former chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and Leader of the Opposition, Prem Kumar Dhumal has described the state budget for 2013-14 as 'visionless and directionless' and said that it has belied the hopes of the people, especially the youth.
"The Congress had promised unemployment allowance to educated youth who have been cheated by giving Skill Development Allowance and that too has been restricted to youth in the age group of 25 to 35 years and a period of two years", he said adding that the announcement about Skill Development Programme had already been made by Union Finance minister in his budget speech.
He alleged that the budget speech has mention of the schemes started by the BJP government but the chief minister was shy of giving credit for this scheme to BJP.
Dhumal said the budget was disappointing as all section were hoping for some relief.
He said it was surprising that the budget has no reference to the railways, despite the fact that the Congress government had been going public with its commitment on expansion of railways.
"Neither the central budget, nor the state has talked about railway expansion in Himachal Pradesh", he said.
HP Industries minister, Mukesh Agnihotri has hailed the budget as progressive which would give boost to economic growth and industrialisation and generate employment.
