Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna, on Wednesday, presented the first supplementary budget for the current fiscal 2023-24 in the state assembly.

The size of the supplementary budget is Rs 28,761 crore.

Tabling the finance bill on the second day of the winter session, the finance minister stated that the supplementary budget includes revenue expenditure of Rs 19,463.9 crore and capital expenditure of Rs 9,714 crore. The provision for new schemes in the schedule of new demands is Rs 7,421.21.

The minister said that additional grants for the ongoing and new schemes would give a boost to the development process in the state.

In the supplementary budget, provisions have been made by the government for many new projects. The proposed supplementary demand encompasses proposals for new demand of Rs 7,421.21 crore, including proposals worth Rs 21,339.46 crore for ongoing schemes.

Additionally, the supplementary budget includes provisions for farmers, allocating Rs 900 crore for free electricity to farmers and Rs 400 crore for clearing dues of sugarcane farmers. There are provisions in the supplementary budget for the development of the state capital region.

A provision of Rs 50 crore as seed capital for the ‘State Capital Regional Development Authority’ and Rs 100 crore for the construction of the regional offices of the authority at Varanasi and Gorakhpur, and Rs 10 lakh to the UP Housing and Development Board for the construction of the convention centre. There is a provision of Rs 231 crore for Lucknow and Kanpur metro rail for the repayment of loans, Rs 2090 crore for the Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana and Rs 4,493 lakh to Khadi and Village Industries Board for self-employment promotion scheme

The budget has an allocation of Rs 510 crore for the establishment of the PM Mega Integrated Textile Zone and Apparel Park in Lucknow-Hardoi under the PM Mitra Scheme and Rs 100 crore for the implementation of the Uttar Pradesh Data Centre Policy.

Meanwhile, with a new set of rules prohibiting legislators from carrying phones, political posters or flags in the Uttar Pradesh assembly coming into force, Samajwadi Party members continued their protests against the government on the second day of the session too by wearing black clothes.

Shivpal Singh Yadav, SP national general secretary and veteran leader of the party, has raised concerns over the Yogi Adityanath government’s supplementary budget. He alleged that more than 50 per cent of the budget allocated to any department in the state had not been utilised.

Shivpal Yadav accused the Yogi government of being fixated on numbers without effective implementation. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned whether the government procured wheat or whether it let private companies handle the purchases. He highlighted that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on farming equipment ranged from 12 per cent to 18 per cent.

Akhilesh Yadav also sought to know whether the double-engine government would reduce the GST to support farmers or provide assistance to them directly from the state treasury.

The Samajwadi Party opposed the budget.