Finance Minister Pradeep Amat on Monday presented a revenue surplus Budget for the fiscal year 2014-15 of Rs 84,487.77 crore amid pandemonium and protest by the Opposition Congress and BJP members in the House. Amat also presented a separate Agriculture Budget with an outlay of Rs 10,903.62 crore for the next fiscal up by 15 per cent.
However, the fiscal deficit i.e the difference between what a Government earns and what it spends, will go up to Rs 6,408.11 crore which, the Finance Minister said, is within three per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) prescribed by the Odisha Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) target.
Faced with crunch in mobilisation of resources in the current fiscal, the revised estimate has come down from Budget estimates of Rs 80,139.58 crore to Rs 77,557.06 crore. State’s annual plan outlay has been pegged at Rs 44,150 crore including Rs 4,000 crore for the public sector undertakings compared to the revised estimate of Rs 35,666 crore in the current fiscal.
The Government’s total budgetary allocation of Rs 84,487.77 crore comprises estimated revenue receipt of Rs 70,940.50 crore, recovery from loans and advances Rs 240.29 crore, besides Rs 13,306.99 crore by means of borrowing and other receipts. The budgetary expenditure for the next fiscal includes Plan expenditure to the tune of Rs 65,838.99 crore and Non-Plan of Rs 43,956.32 crore.
Budgetary allocation for the social sector spending has been pegged at Rs 29,092.19 crore. It includes allocation for Health and Family Welfare Department under both Plan and Non-Plan category to the tune of Rs 3,855.88 crore, for School and Mass Education Rs 9979.49 crore, for Higher Education Rs 1,989.11 crore, for Panchayati Raj Rs 7,057.10 crore, for ST and SC Development Rs 23, 72.34 crore and for Women and Child Development of Rs 4,160.63 crore etc.
An estimated Rs 14,232.58 crore has been earmarked for key infrastructure development which constitutes allocation of Rs 4,145.12 crore for Works Department, Rs 2,925.29 crore for Housing and Urban Development, Rs 5,974 crore for Rural Development and Rs 1,187.20 crore for Energy Department.
A special allocation of Rs 135 crore in the Budget has been made this time keeping in view the Puri Nabakalebar festival to be held later this year. Speaking to the reporters after presenting the Budget, Finance Minister Amat said the budgetary outlay has increased by about 5.15 per cent this year. The non-plan outlay has increased by about 7.97 per cent whereas plan outlay has increased by 7.97 per cent where as the State plan has increased by 3.45 per cent as compared to the previous year.
“The allocation for agriculture and allied sector in the Budget has been substantially enhanced from Rs 95,42. 22 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 10,903.61 crore in 2015-16. The step-up in provision in the sector is 14.27 per cent,” the Finance Minister said. Amat further added, “Due to declining in mining revenue, frequent cut in petrol and diesel prices resulting in loss of Value Added Tax and some other factors, there has been fall in revenue collection. However, with some mines going to open soon and the State contemplating some strong measures like tight monitoring of timely revenue collection and realisation of pending arrears, things will improve soon.”