Odisha Govt presents Rs 1.39 lakh crore Budget for 2019-20 FY

Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government on Friday presented a Rs 1,39,000 crore budget for 2019-20 in the State Assembly, around 15.8 per cent more than the previous year’s 1,20,028 crore Budget.

This was the first annual Budget of the Naveen Patnaik Government after it voted to power for fifth consecutive term.

Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari also presented a separate Agriculture Budget worth Rs 20,714 crore.

In the 2019-20 budget, the highest resource allocation is witnessed in agriculture and allied sector (Rs 20,714 crore), Panchayati Raj (Rs 18,419 crore) followed by School and Mass Education Department (Rs 16,400 crore).

Pujari said the State’s economy is expected to grow at 8.35% in 2019-20, much higher than all-India growth rate of 7.2%.

Pujari said that total administrative expenditure is estimated at Rs 57,310 crore, programme expenditure at Rs 74,600 crore, disaster response fund at Rs 4,600 crore and transfer to local bodies at Rs 6,490 crore, respectively.

The Minister said as green initiative the State Government has reduced the number of printed copies of the budget document from 500 to 200 to conserve trees and environment.

“By this, we have reduced printing of about 57 lakh pages of paper which saved about 700 large trees,” said Pujari.

Pujari earmarked Rs 17,809 crore for infrastructure sector including Rs 350 crore under SCRIPS that aims to provide 24×7 power supply, Rs 20,824 crore for rural development sector. Total investment for piped drinking water during 2019-20 FY will be more than Rs 5,000 crore, said the Minister.

While Rs 237 crore was allocated for development of industries sector infrastructure and attracting investment Rs 1203 crore was earmarked under the Biju Swastha Kalyan Yojana for free medical facilities.

“The total budgetary allocation for Health and Family Welfare Department has been increased by 10% to Rs 6,828 crore during 2019-20. Rs 1203 crore was earmarked under the Biju Swastha Kalyan Yojana for free medical facilities,” said the Finance Minister.

We are planning to cover additional 5 lakh households of Fani-affected areas with pucca houses, said Pujari adding that Rs 4820 crore was allocated under housing scheme while Rs 100 crore was allocated under the JAGA Mission.

“The State Government has earmarked Rs 301 crore under Mukhyamantri Mahila Sashaktikaran Yojana towards financial assistance to women SHGs and their federations under Mission Shakti and Rs 130 crore for construction of Mission Shakti Gruha at GP level,” added the Minister.

The State Government also earmarked a corpus of Rs 500 crore to facilitate timely payment of wages under MGNREGA.

Of the total expenditure of Rs 20,714 crore in the Agriculture Budget, the Finance Minister allocated Rs 5611 crore for the KALIA scheme, Rs 1,777 crore for Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Scheme and Rs 146 crore for Nabakrushna Chaudhury Secha Unayana Yojana and Rs 100 crore was earmarked for Gangadhar Meher Lift Canal system.

The Minister announced interest-free crop loan up to Rs 1 lakh and earmarked Rs 800 crore for the same.

Pujari said Rs 540 crore was allocated for completion of 20,000 deep bore wells. The State Government has set a target to set up 1000 community lift irrigation points at a cost of Rs 400 crore, announced the Finance Minister.

 

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