Presenting the first Budget of Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government in the fourth term, Finance Minister Jagdish Devda offered no relief to the public and also did not burden them with any fresh tax.
Presenting the first paperless Budget of the State in MP Assembly on Tuesday, Devda talked about Aatmnirbhar MP concept floated by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in line with the Aatmnirbhar Bharat slogan given by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Former Congress minister Bala Bachchan however interrupted the minister saying the BJP government has ensured that per capita income is reduced and fiscal deficit mounted in the last one year or so.
In a slight relief to 1984 Union Carbide victims, the BJP government has proposed to restart their pension. Meant for senior citizens, the CM Teerth Darshan Yojana will also be restarted.
Besides increasing 1235 seats of MBBS in medical colleges in two years, the state government will convert two engineering colleges and five polytechnic colleges into Schools of Excellence.
To speed up work of Indore and Bhopal metro rail, Rs 262 cr have been provisioned in the annual in the Rs 2.40 lakh cr budget. State capital will get a police hospital and every district will get Mahila Thana.
The budget laid special focus on farming and Rs 1,000 cr have been provisioned for 0% farm loans and Rs 2,000 cr have been provisioned for a new crop purchase scheme.
The budget has announced new medical colleges in Sheopur, Mandla, Singrauli, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Damoh, Chhatarpur and Rajgarh.
The finance minister announced a water revolution saying the budget for the scheme of supplying piped water to every household in urban and rural area has been revised budget provision of Rs 5962 cr. Earlier the scheme had a provision of 1364 cr.
Among infrastructure projects, Chhatarpur will get a ropeway in Jatashankar area, 65 new bridges will be built, 105 railway bridges, 2441 km fresh roads will be laid, Narmada expressway will be developed for linking east and west areas of the state and 4500MW solar parks will be built.
Under CM Rise scheme, 9200 schools will be equipped with all the modern facilities. In the current fiscal year, the state government plans to recruit 24,200 new teachers in schools.
The minister announced that Centre has assigned in principal approval for Khelo India Youth Games to be held in Madhya Pradesh in year 2022.
Later, speaking to the media, the minister said that the state government hasn’t imposed any fresh levy on the public. We implemented suggestions of the commoners and also took care of the farmers, he added. He accepted that there have been revenue constraints due to the Covid19 pandemic.
He however fended off queries on no relaxation offered on fuel and other essential commodities and services. The MP assembly was later adjourned by the speaker Girish Gautam and the Hosue will meet against on March 4.
Meanwhile, the Congress party was quick to slam the Shivraj government. “The budget seems a bundle of lies, directionless and web of data,” MPCC chief Kamal Nath said in a tweet.
Expected relief on fuel, property registration fee and continuation of farm loan waiver, job creation steps and steps to bolster women safety seemed elusive, he added. The budget has nothing for the public, its exact opposite to what was anticipated by the common man, Nath added further.