Staff Reporter
Guwahati: Sivasagar MLA and Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi termed the Assam Budget for 2026-27 as one based on debt.
After the tabling of the annual budget for the financial year 2026-27 by Finance Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah on the floor of the Assam Legislative Assembly today, Akhil Gogoi told mediapersons on the Assembly premises, "If we look at where the money comes from, we'll see that 19.76% of it will come from public debt. Another 0.21% will come from some other debt source. So, around 20% of the money will be derived from loans. If the budget size is Rs 2 lakh crore, an amount of Rs 40,000 crore will come from loans. The size of this year's budget is Rs 2.85 lakh crore. So, around Rs 56,000 crore will be sourced through loans. This will be a debt-derived budget for the state."
"I haven't seen any new development scheme in the budget. If we look closely at the budget, we will see that it is orientated towards beneficiaries. The only development scheme is the Aerotropolis project, which will pave the way for a satellite city near Guwahati airport. The government will acquire around 6,000 bigha of land for the project," Gogoi added.
"Under the directions of the Chief Minister, an amount of Rs 4,000 crore has been allocated in the budget for the Irrigation Department. I welcome the fact that the Irrigation Department has been allocated the amount, but the Agriculture Department has been allocated less funds. I find it strange that no new project has been announced for the Sixth Schedule areas of Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao and BTC," he asserted.
Akhil Gogoi welcomed the proposal for seeking a World Heritage Site tag for Sivasagar and Dima Hasao.
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