The Union Government has approved budgetary allocations of Rs813 crore under plan-head for Chandigarh for current fiscal year 2014-15. The non-plan budgetary allocation of Rs2,730.25 for UT has been approved by the Centre.
In previous fiscal 2013-14, the Centre had approved Rs876.05 crore under the plan head for UT Administration. During the interim Budget 2014-15 presented in February, Rs 812.85 crore under plan-head was allocated to UT Administration.
A major chuck has been allocated for the urban development and education sector in the UT of Chandigarh. The important thrust areas for the next fiscal year are Education (with 23 percent of total budget allocation), Urban Development (23 percent), Transport (15 percent), Heath (15 percent), Housing (5 percent), Social Security, Social Welfare & Empowerment of Women (3 percent).
A senior official of the UT Administration said that UT had proposed to dedicate the year 2014 to women and the endeavour of the Administration would be to make efforts towards promoting safety of the girl child and encouraging girl education. Four new and innovative schemes with a total estimated expenditure of Rs10 crore are proposed in the annual Plan 2014-15.
“The funds to the tune of Rs5.27 crore have been earmarked for mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction plan for various departments in pursuance of directions of the Planning Commission, New Delhi for Education Research, Sensitization awareness and Institutional strengthening for Disaster Management Preparedness at all levels,” he added.