Wednesday, 15 June 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The Finance minister Prem Chand Agarwal presented a budget of Rs 65,571.49 crore for the financial year 2022-23 in the State Assembly on Tuesday. On March 30, the Pushkar Singh Dhami government had presented a ‘vote on account’ for the first three months of the financial year as the budget could not be prepared since the state was under the process of assembly election. Now the government tabled the budget for the entire year on the first day of the budget session of the Assembly.
To present his first budget as the Finance minister, Agarwal wore a traditional attire of Uttarakhand. In the budget document the government’s estimated receipts stood at Rs 63,774.55 crore while the expenses are estimated at Rs 65,571.49 crore. In the budgetary expenditure Rs 49,013.31 crore are under revenue account while Rs 16,558.18 crore are under capital accounts. In his speech the finance minister said that a surplus of Rs 2460.96 crore is expected in this financial year while a fiscal deficit of Rs 8,503.70 crore is expected. This fiscal deficit is 3.07 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the State.
In the budget the Dhami government has focussed on women empowerment and administrative reforms. The government has also expressed its commitment for speedy implementation of central funded schemes. In the budget a provision of Rs 500 crore is made for the state government’s Nanda Gaura Yojana. For providing free and cashless treatment under the Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana (AAUY), a provision of Rs 310 crore has been made for the current financial year. Similarly provisions of Rs 311.76 crore and Rs 297.84 crore have been made under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee schemes respectively. In the budget the finance minister has made a provision of Rs 205 crore for smart city scheme and Rs 105. 41 crore under Deendayal Upadhyaya Gramin Kaushal Yojana. Similarly Rs 1,500 crore have been kept for different pension schemes of social security which includes Old age pension, widow pension, Divyang pension and others. Fulfilling the promise of providing three LPG cylinders free of cost to the poor families (Antyodaya) , the Dhami government has made a provision of Rs 55.50 crore in the budget. For the per drop more crop plan under the PM agricultural irrigation scheme a sum of Rs 43.15 crore has been provisioned in the budget. To provide free textbooks for the students of general and OBC categories, a sum of Rs 36.86 crore has been kept in the budget. In his speech the minister said that the state government would provide motorcycles to all the Patwaris of the revenue department.
To promote the concept of community fitness, a provision of Rs 10 crore has been made for setting up open gyms. A sum of Rs 20 crore has been reserved for the CM border area development scheme. Under integrated horticulture scheme a sum of Rs 17 crore has been kept in the budget while under Tea development scheme Rs 18.40 crore has been provisioned. For Atal Utkrishta schools a provision of Rs 12.28 crore has been made while Rs 13.48 crore have been provisioned for the Mera Gaon Meri Sadak Yojana.
