patna trade and industry bodies as well as common people in the state have high expectations from the union budget to be presented by finance minister nirmala sitharaman on february 1 since this will be the first budget after the covid onslaught on the countrys economy all eyes are on the finance ministermicro small and medium enterprises msmes are hopeful that the finance minister will bring in reforms and present a favourable budget we are expecting concessions for small businesses which bore the brunt of covid pandemic reduction in loan interest will go a long way in helping the msmes bihar industries association president ram lal khaitan saidthe pandemichit common people too expect relief from the government special incentives to facilitate establishment of business units are a must it will also generate employment in the state the centre should also accord special category status to bihar for its overall development said ashok kumar a resident of kankarbaghpreeti rathore a schoolteacher said the pandemic was an eyeopener for the healthcare sector in india the priority right now should be effective distribution of covid19 vaccine among all sections of peoplepolitical leaders too have kept their fingers crossed as far as the budget is concerned jdu spokesperson rajiv ranjan prasad said the picture that has emerged from the presidents address to the joint session of parliament is very encouraging we are hopeful that there will be budgetary allocations for bihar funds might be allocated for completion of railway projects in the state he addedbjp general secretary devesh kumar said one should not forget that the world has gone through a lot due to covid pandemic and economies have taken a hit across the globe however i am sure that the finance minister will come out with a budget that will fulfil the expectations of all sections of people it seems public expenditure and infrastructure projects will get a big boost he saidrjd spokesman mrityunjay tiwari said considering the track record of the narendra modiled nda government at the centre one should not expect much this time too lets pray that the government does something for the farmers daily wagers and youth tiwari added