Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said the Budget Session of the Haryana Assembly will commence from 20 February.
The CM, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the Budget on 23 February 23. The decision was taken in a meeting of the council of ministers chaired today by Khattar.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the CM said that like last year, this year too the sitting of the House will be in two parts.
He said the Union Budget-2023 2024 is inclusive and futuristic, keeping in mind the empowerment of job professionals, youth, women, men, and farmers.
“A special focus has been laid on infrastructure development, health, employment generation, housing, social welfare, farmers, higher education, innovation, and research, which will also be beneficial for Haryana,” he said.
Khattar said suggestions given by Haryana during the pre-budget discussions have been accepted by the Union finance ministry.
“We have suggested setting up an Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) on the lines of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). Accepting this, the Union finance minister has announced the establishment of UIDF,” he said.
“Besides this, I had also given another suggestion to continue the special assistant to the States in the form of a 50-year interest-free loan. The Finance Minister has continued this scheme and for this, a provision of Rs 1.03 lakh crores has been made in the general budget,” shared the CM.
He said under this scheme, Rs 874 Crore was approved for the Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor project in the last financial year. In this financial year also Haryana will get sufficient funds. Haryana is in a better financial position as compared to its neighbouring states, he said.
The CM said Haryana is in a better financial position as compared to its neighbouring states. He said the economic growth rate of the country for the current financial year presented in the Union Budget is about seven per cent. The economic growth rate of Haryana is about eight per cent.
“In the Union Budget, the limit of fiscal deficit has been fixed at up to three per cent of the state’s domestic product. We have already been able to keep the fiscal deficit below this. Our financial deficit for the financial year 2021-22 was 2.9 percent. I am sure that the deficit of the current financial year is also less than this and will continue to be less than this prescribed limit,” Khattar said.