By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun/Gairsain, 4 Mar: Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat today presented a Rs 57,400 crores budget for the Financial Year (FY) 2021-22 in the state assembly at Gairsain, today. As expected, no new tax has been levied in the budget presented for the year that will see assembly polls in Uttarakhand. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who also holds the charge as Finance Minister tabled his second and last budget. He announced that total revenue of Rs 44,151 crores was expected to accrue to the state during the FY 2021-22, of which income of Rs 20,195.43 crores was expected in form of tax revenue. At the same time, total expenditure of Rs 57,400.32 crores was budgeted for FY 21-22. Out of this total expenditure, an amount of Rs 44,036.31crores was expected to be incurred in form of revenue expenditure and the balance amount of Rs 13,364.01 crores in form of capital expenditure. While the CM has claimed no revenue loss for FY 2021-22, the total fiscal deficit of Rs 8984.5 crores is estimated during FY 2021-22. However, unlike past years, this particular budget is not a revenue surplus budget, which would have been a major challenge to accomplish in the pandemic affected year.
In FY 2021-22, expenditure of Rs 6,400.19 crores has been estimated on pensions and other retirement benefits. Expenditure of Rs 6,052.63 crores is estimated as interest payment, while expenditure of Rs 4,241.57 crores is estimated as repayment of loans.
Presenting the budget, Rawat claimed that the government had focussed on employment generation, particularly in the wake of the Corona pandemic. Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA), expenditure of Rs 681 crores has been provisioned, while Rs 94.43 crores has been provided in the budget under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, he announced, adding that Rs 40 crores have been provided for the Chief Minister’s Swarozgar Yojana.
He also claimed that the government was committed to doubling farmers’ income and, for this, provision of Rs 87.56 crores has been made under the traditional agricultural development scheme. A provision of Rs 245 crores has been made in this budget for payment of sugarcane dues to the farmers. Rs 20 crores have been allocated under the Chief Minister State Agricultural Development Scheme and Rs 12 crores for the Samagra Adarsh Krishi Gram Yojana (Integrated Model Agriculture Village Scheme). An amount of Rs 67.94 crores has been made under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) for the state, he announced. A provision of Rs 47 crores has been made for farmers under the Deen Dayal Cooperative Scheme. A total provision of Rs 1,108 crores has been made in the budget for agriculture work and research. Rs 328 crores has been budgeted for the Peri Urban schemes. A provision of Rs 5.53crores has been made for the management of the Prime Minister Micro Food Enterprise Upgradation Scheme for processing of fruits under the Horticulture Department, he added.
Rs 118 crores have been allocated for the maintenance of tube wells, canals, lakes and dams and Rs 150 crores for the construction of tubewells and canals under the irrigation department. Rs 30 crores have been provided for the construction of the hydropower project, Kisau, Lakhwad and Tyuni Arakot under the Power Department!
In what could be a significant move towards resolving the drinking water crisis of Dehradun district, an amount of Rs 150 crores has been provisioned in the budget for the Saung River Drinking Water project. An amount of Rs 240 crores has allocated for construction of the Jamrani Dam Project to tackle the drinking water needs of Nainital district.
Chief Minister Rawat announced another significant provision of Rs 150 crores for the management of the Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Scheme in the budget. The total provision under the medical, health and family welfare head announced by the CM was of Rs 3,319.63 crores.
Rawat announced that an amount of Rs 1,511 crores had been provisioned for the creation of capital assets under the Public Works Department for FY 21-22. He added that Rs 954.75 crores had been provided for the creation of capital assets under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Rs 129 crore for the acquisition of land for the road projects. A provision of Rs 70 crores has been made for the Muzaffarnagar railway line construction project and another Rs 181 crores for development and expansion of aviation activities, announced.