The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh on Monday tabled its first supplementary budget to the tune of Rs 34,833 crore, seeking funds for various projects, including the new international airport at Jewar, Bundelkhand Expressway, defence corridor, Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, 2019 lok Sabha polls and to pay the arrears of the cane farmers. The government has also sought Rs 1,344 crore for financing the loan waiver scheme for small and marginal farmers.
The government has sought the maximum amount of Rs 5,535 crore for the Cane Development department for clearing the arrears of sugarcane farmers who had supplied cane to the sugar mills of the Cooperative sector, and of the public sector undertakings (PSUs).
Out of the total amount, Rs 4,000 crore would be given to private and public sector mills as soft loans to pay the farmers arrears while Rs 1,010 crore would be given to UP Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation for clearing the arrears of the farmers.
Another Rs 500 crore has been earmarked as financial assistance to sugar mills while a separate Rs 25 crore is to be given to UP State Sugar Corporation for clearing the arrears of the farmers of previous last crushing season (2017-18). The total arrears of the cane farmers of the previous cane crushing season (2017-18) are around Rs 12,000 crore.
The supplementary grants were tabled in the Assembly by Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal amid pandemonium created by the opposition over law and order in the state.
The supplementary grants are expected to be passed by the Assembly on Tuesday.
The Yogi Adityanath government has sought Rs 800 crore for the Jewar international airport while Rs 800 crore has been sought for the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad in January next year.
For capacity building of village panchayats, the government has sought Rs 200 crore under Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyaan.
The government has also sought Rs 500 crore for the Bundelkhand Expressway and the defence industrial corridor, and Rs 100 crore for organising Bharatiya Pravasi Diwas in Varanasi from January 21 to January 23, 2019.
The government has also sought Rs 1,500 crore as revenue gap subsidy for UP Power Corporation limited and has proposed Rs 4,891 crore for UDAY (Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana), while Rs 100 crore has been kept for MNREGA, Rs 252 crore for legislature development fund and Rs 3,907 for construction of toilets in rural areas under Swachh Bharat Mission.
The government, in preparation for the coming 2019 lok Sabha polls, has sought Rs 50 crore for construction of godowns for storing the EVM and VVPAT machines, Rs 25 crore to set up government colleges in districts, Rs 20 crore for paying pension to MISA-DIR political prisoners and Rs 10 crore for engaging lok Kalyan Mitras in all the 822 blocks of the state to publicise the government’s programmes and schemes.
Besides, Rs 2 crore has been proposed for Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi for setting up a Vedic centre and Rs 22.79 lakh for setting up special courts for disposal of cases of parliamentarians and legislators.
The Yogi government has sought Rs 10 crore for construction of a memorial in memory of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his birthplace Bateshwar in Agra and Rs 5 crore has for setting up a seat of excellence in the name of Vajpayee at DAV College in Kanpur, from where the former Prime Minister did his post-graduation. Besides, the government has kept Rs 5 crore for holding cultural functions in the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the state.
Among the new schemes, the government has earmarked token funds for Ayushman Bharat, PM Agriculture Irrigation Scheme and Sant Kabir Handloom Awards.