With an eye on 2019 lok Sabha elections the Yogi Aditynath government tabled its second budget for the next fiscal 2018-19 in state assembly on Friday. The budget tabled by the finance minister Rajesh Agarwal in the assembly is the biggest budget in states history with size of Rs 4.28 lakh crore which is 11.4 percent higher than compared to previous budget.
The budget similar to Union budget focuses on job creation, farmers, women and rural development. The budget also lays emphasis on financial discipline as the fiscal deficit is 2.96 percent of the state gross domestic product and within the limit of the FRBM Act. (Fiscal responsibility and budget management).
Addressing the press conference after the budget presentation chief minister Yogi Adityanath said “focus of the budget is on the farmers, youth, job creation, women empowerment while adhering to the principal of financial discipline where emphasis has been given to farmers, infrastructure and irrigation projects’’. He said that the budget is progress-oriented and asserted that his government was committed to the development of the state. On the projected growth rate, the chief minister said Rs Rs UP would no longer be known as Rs BIMARU’ state and Uttar Pradesh would soon be among the most developed and prosperous states.
For industrial development Rs 600 crore for Industrial investment policy, and Rs 500 crore for the new industrial policy, Rs 650 crore for the Bundelkhand expressway and Rs 550 crore for Gorakhpur link expressway which will be linked with the Poorvanchal expressway and Rs 1,000 crore for the poorvanchal expressway.
“The Saryu canal project was conceived in 1971 with estimated cost of Rs 175 crore has now escalated to Rs 10,000 core. The government will complete this project and a provision of Rs 1,614 crore has been made in the budget. As many as eight canal projects in Bundelkhand are on the priority of the government including kanhar and Baan sagar canal project while for flood protection and drainage a provision of Rs 1,004 has been made in the budget’, said the chief minister.
CM said for the agriculture and allied activities like animal husbandry, horticulture, cooperatives there is provision of Rs 8,403 core which is 17.5 percent more than the last budget. The provision for the rural development is Rs 22,110 core which is 28.8 percent more than the previous budget. He said for the Open Defection Free (ODF) scheme of Panchyatraj department Rs 17,222 crore has been provided which are 16 more than the last budget. CM said the budgetary provision for the women and child development department has been hiked by 15 percent and social welfare department by 18 percent as compared to the previous budget.
Referring to new projects chief minister said for Start-up scheme Rs 250 crore have been provided and for ODOP (One district one one product) Rs 250 crore and Rs 100 crore for CM Yuva Swa rojgar yojna.
Yogi Adityanath said for ensuring the accountability of the state administration and the bureaucracy a toll free Rs CM Help line ‘’ will be set up at the cost of Rs 40 crore. The common citizen can directly register their complaint against all the government functionaries of all departments round the clock. He said all the government offices will be linked with E office. Several department shave been linked and 22 more departments will be linked during the next fiscal at the cost of Rs 30 crore.
Chief minister said the detailed project report (DPR) for three cities Kanpur, Meerut and Agra has been completed while the DPR for the Varanasi, Allahabad,, Gorakhpur and Jhansi are being prepared as per the new metro and a token Rs 100 crore has been made in the budget while Rs 250 crore have been given for Regional Rapid Transit system (RRTS) between Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut. He said regional air connectivity will get a major boost in next fiscal as all the divisional headquarters will be linked by air and a provision of Rs 150 crore has been made in the budget.
On one of the contentious issue chief minister said provision of Rs 100 crore is in the budget for the crematorium/graveyard and Rs 100 crore for the urban areas. He said this money is for all the religion and would be given to all the faiths without any discrimination.
For the Kombi meal a the government has made a provision of Rs 1,500 core,
Rs200 crore for the Varanasi cultural Center, and Rs 100 crore for Garhmuketshwar and Brij Vikas Parishad.
CM said in next fiscal as many as 1.32 lakh primary teachers and 1.68 lakh police constables will be recruited besides recruitments by the UP lok Seva Ayog and UP subordinate service commission. He said UP has huge potential of job creation in MSME sector. Rs Rs The previous governments ignored this sector , under ODOP state government will provide training, facility of design, marketing and export to the start ups and it would create 20lakh jobs in next three years’’