48633.90 crore budget presented in Uttarakhand assembly; Finance Minister faints during presentation

The state budget for Uttarakhand for the financial year 2019-20 was presented on Monday, February 20.

Uttarakhand budget 2019-20 highlights:

• Interest free loans upto Rs 1 lakh for agro processing and agricultural works to the poor farmers
• Interest free loans to self-help groups upto rupees five lakhs for agricultural activities for the promotion of agriculture.
• 104.12 crores allotted to double the income of farmers by 2022, under the traditional agricultural development scheme,
• Rupees 150 crore for Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand scheme
• Provision of four crore rupees under special incentive scheme for women entrepreneurs
• 121 crore provision for the construction of canals in unirrigated areas
•  Rupees 170 crore for construction of dam construction on river Song and construction of infrastructure works
•  10 crore for the construction of sub-district hospital in Doiwala, 10 crore for strengthening of Mental Hospital Selakui.
•  State Medical College, Haldwani and affiliated hospitals to get 119.33 crore, Almora Medical College 76.85 crore, Doon Medical College 85.65 crore.
• 1073 crores for integrated education, 20 crores for the construction of schools and hostels in NABARD scheme.
• Rupees 38 crore for Union, government and non-government degree college building construction.
• With the establishment of Wi-Fi zone to develop universities in the form of smart campus, 20 crore have been allotted.
• The establishment of Law University in the state is budgeted at rupees 50 crore.
•  Rupees 326 crores allocated for scholarships of students of  Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes & handicapped students.
•  Rs 15 crore for Girls, 75 crore to Nanda Gauri Yojana
•  7 crore for construction and upgradation of Chief Minister Anganwadi centers
• 67 crore  Under the Kaushal Vikas Yojana, a provision of Rs. 3.86 crores for the skill development scheme of women and weaker sections.
•  Construction of infrastructure for tourism under the external assistance scheme is 70 crore, under the Home Stay Development Plan 11.5 crore.
• 15 crore under self-employment in tourism under Vir Chandra Singh Garhwali scheme
• 88 crore for Urban Transformation Mission & 100 Crore for Atal Renovation
•  Rs. 240 crore for road maintenance of bridge, Rs. 450 crore under current schemes of PWD and Rs. 360 crore under NABARD.
• 900 crore under Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojna
•  100 Cr. To Roorkee-Deoband Railway Line Construction
•  2182.79 crore for rural and urban local bodies
•  2053.63 crore to social security and welfare
• Approval of Asian Development Bank-approved 1400 crore for improving power system in the state
• ADB’s theoretical consent of 1500 crore for the Urban Sector Development Program in the state
• The provision of 175 crores under the IIFAD scheme, the promotion of reverse migration will be placed on the Table of the House on Monday evening.

Prior to the Lok Sabha elections, the Trivendra Singh Rawat government presented its third budget, all sections of the society including the farmers, youth, women, deprived sections, soldiers, paramilitary and employees and almost all the areas of the state have been covered. Like the Center’s Modi government, more focushas been given to farmers and agriculture. Having been providing cheap loans to farmers over the years, the government will now provide interest-free loans to the farmers in individual and self-help groups. Looking at the Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand scheme as a big game changer, 150 crore budget have been made. Big hopes of expanding the structure of infrastructure facilities in the cities, bodies in the big urban areas of the voters have been raised. 160 crore for Dehradun Smart City and construction of framework for Dehradun-Haridwar-Rishikesh Metro train has been given in the budget. Not only this, in order to host the Kumbh mela in the future, i.e. in 2021, it has been kept in the budget of 155 crores. The state’s BJP government has relied heavily on the help of centrally sponsored schemes of the Modi government for the third consecutive budget. At the same time, during the budget speech, Finance Minister Prakash Pant was unwell and as a result Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat presented the remaining budget speech.

On the fifth day of the session in the Assembly on Monday, Finance Minister Prakash Pant presented the third budget of the BJP government in the absence of the Congress legislators and the presence of the sole opposition independents, Pritam Panwar. Presenting a tax-free budget of Rs 48663.90 crore for the financial year 2019-20. In this, the expenditure of 38932.70 crore revenue accounts and 9731.20 crore of capital accounts is estimated.

The expenditure on the salary and allowances of state employees is estimated at 14513.79 crore and the expenditure on pensions and other retirement benefits is 5942.69 crore. In the budget of 22.79 crore revenue surplus, the tax revenue is estimated at 23622.11 crore. There is no estimate of revenue deficit in the budget. The fiscal deficit of Rs 6798.16 crore is estimated, but it is within three percent of the GSDP set under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. The Budget Provision for the next financial year is more than seven percent more than the previous financial year 2019-19.

Finance Minister Prakash Pant faints during budget presentation

Finance Minister Prakash Pant, who was presented in the budget in the house lost consciousness. All the MLAs got worried by the sudden disruption of his health in the House. He was taken out of the house for some time. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat presented the remaining budget speech in the House on the unhealthy deterioration of the finance minister.

On Monday, Cabinet Minister Prakash Pant was presenting the budget. When he had submitted more than half the budget, he drank water. After drinking water, as soon as he started reading the budget, he suddenly lost consciousness. The other sitting MLAs sitting next to them, including Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya, held him.