Wednesday, 30 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami presented a vote on account of Rs 21,117 crore in the state Assembly on Tuesday. As soon as the vote on account was presented the opposition benches were up on their feet. Congress leader Pritam Singh demanded that as per the convention the vote on account should be presented after discussion on the governor’s address. Other Congress MLAs including former speaker Yaspal Arya supported Singh and demanded that the speaker should direct the government to present the vote on account on Wednesday. Cabinet minister Prem Chand Agarwal who has been designated by the government to oversee floor management in the house said that a decision on doing away with the discussion on Governor’s address was taken in the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC). In her ruling the Assembly speaker Ritu Khanduri said that the CM has tabled the vote on account so there would be no discussions on the governor’s address. She adjourned the house till 11 AM on Wednesday.
The vote on account of Rs 21,116.81 crore has been made in view of an anticipated budgetary demand of Rs 62,468.50 crore for the financial year 2022-23. Since the general budget could not be prepared as the state was under the process of Assembly elections, a vote on account for the first four months has been sought by the newly sworn-in government from the consolidated fund of the state to meet its day to day expenses. In it a provision of Rs 16,007.63 crore has been made under revenue expenditure head while Rs 5,109.18 crore under capital expenditure head. A provision of Rs 5,796 crore has been made for salary, Rs 2,229 crore for pension, Rs 2,275 crore for interest payment, Rs 2,256 crore for capital outlay, Rs 1,563 crore for loan payment and Rs 4,709 crore has been allocated under others head in the vote on account of Dhami government. For the centrally funded Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan a sum of Rs 428.93 crore has been kept while for Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) a provision of Rs 333.33 crore has been provisioned.
