The UP Assembly on Monday passed the Rs 4.28 lakh crore annual Budget for the 2018-19 fiscal without debate on the grants of 96 departments.
The House also approved appropriation and other related bills.
Expressing his strong disapproval of the government’s move to get the Budget passed without debate on grants of departments, leader of opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary said that the government owed an explanation to the people why it wanted to get the Budget passed without a debate on the grants of different departments.
“Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna must tell the House whether the opposition parties created disturbance and did not allow the House to proceed in a smooth manner. Opposition parties have always cooperated with the government yet the treasury benches were not ready for a debate on the grants of departments,” Chaudhary said.
“The debate on the grants of departments gives an opportunity to the opposition to point out the failure of the government and place the grievances of the common man before the House. The Bharatiya Janata Party government has deprived this opportunity to the opposition as it wants to hide its failure,” Chaudhary charged.
Criticising the Yogi Adityanath government for its drive against copying during High School and Intermediate examinations of the UP Board, the Samajwadi Party leader said that as many as 15 lakh students were forced to skip the examinations.
“There is a clear design behind the government’s move as it wants to suppress the number of educated unemployed youths. If they are not able to pass exam and obtain degree, they won’t be able to join the ranks of educated unemployed,” the leader of opposition argued.
Congress leader Ajay Kumar lallu demanded a hike in Vidhayak Nidhi (legislator’s local Area Development Fund) from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 5 crore per year but the Parliamentary Affairs Minister ignored the demand.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was not present in the House during the passage of the Budget.
The Budget for 2018-19 was tabled by Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal in the Assembly on February 16 and was considered the highest Budget in the history of the state with a size of Rs 4.28 lakh crore, which is 11.4 per cent higher compared to the previous Budget.
The Budget focuses on job creation, welfare of farmers and women and also rural development. It also emphasises on financial discipline as fiscal deficit is 2.96 per cent of the State Gross Domestic Product and within the limit of FRBM Act (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act).