The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday presented a Rs 5,12,860.72 crore budget for Financial Year 2020-21, which includes Rs 500-crore allocation for constructing an airport in Ayodhya. The budget is Rs 33,159 crore more than the previous year’s budget and introduces provisions for new schemes worth Rs 10,967.87 crore. For the development of Ayodhya as a tourist spot, the budget has earmarked Rs 85 crore and another Rs 10 crore for the renovation of Tulsi Smarak Bhawan in the city.

With the construction of Ram temple expected to begin in a couple of months, Rs 500 crore has been allocated for an airport in Ayodhya. The budget also earmarked Rs 180 crore for setting up a cultural center in Varanasi and Rs 200 crore for expansion and beautification of Kashi Vishwanath temple.

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Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the budget in the state assembly in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. This is the fourth budget of the Yogi government.

BSP leader Lalji Verma described the budget as “directionless”, to which Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit said that the members would get an opportunity to speak during a discussion on the budget. As per the budget estimate for 2020-21, total receipts of Rs 5,00,558.53 crore are estimated. This includes Rs 4,22,567.83 crore by way of revenue and Rs 77,990.70 crore by way of capital receipts. Revenue receipts include Rs 3,18,884.17 crore by way of tax revenue share, which includes Rs 1,66,021 crore by way of the state”s own tax revenue and Rs 1,52,863.17 crore by way of the state’s share in the central taxes.

Total state expenditure is estimated at Rs 5,12,860.72 crore, which includes Rs 3,95,116.95 crore by way of revenue expenditure and Rs 1,17,743.77 crore by way of capital expenditure. After deducting total expenditure from the receipts of the consolidated funds, a deficit of Rs 12,302.19 crore is estimated. Net receipts of Rs 8,500 crore are estimated from a public account.

Fiscal deficit of Rs 53,195.46 crore is estimated in the financial year 2020-21, which is 2.97 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product estimated for this fiscal. A revenue saving of Rs 27,450.88 crore is estimated in the year 2020-21. The state’s debt liability is estimated to be 28.8 percent of the state”s Gross Domestic Product.