Infrastructure development, women and child welfare, conservation of cattle population, and modernisation of madarsas formed the core of the Uttar Pradesh budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 presented by the Yogi Adityanath government on Thursday. The budget lays emphasis on police modernisation too.
The annual fiscal statement, with a budget size of Rs 4,79,701.10 crore (Around Rs 4.79 lakh crore), was presented by Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal in the Vidhan Sabha. The finance minister said the 2019-20 budget is 12 per cent more than the budget for the financial year 2018-19.
Addressing a press conference at Tilak Hall after the presentation of the budget, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described the budget as “development-oriented” keeping in mind “sabka saath sabka vikas”. The chief minister said it aimed at the welfare of both the rural and the urban sector, the farmers, labourers, and all other sections of the society. He said this is the biggest budget in the history of the state.
On being asked if the budget was prepared with an eye on the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the chief minister said the budget has been designed keeping in view the welfare of the state and the central government schemes.
Cattle conservation forms the cornerstone of the annual fiscal statement with the state government seeking support from the departments other than the animal husbandry department. Presenting the budget, the finance minister said a special cess has been imposed on liquor sales in the state from which an estimated Rs 165 crore will be utilised for the maintenance of the destitute cattle-heads, while Rs 247 crore has been proposed for the maintenance and construction of cowsheds in the rural areas, Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for Kanha Gaushala and Destitute Cattle Shelter Scheme in the urban areas.
On rural development, a provision of Rs 6240 crore has been made under the Pradhanmantri Avas Yojana (Rural) and Rs 3488 crore for the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). While a provision of Rs 6,000 crore in the budget has been made for Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), Rs 100 crore has been proposed for the development of cremation grounds in the rural areas of the state.
In the 2019-20 budget, a provision of Rs 3,194 crore has been made for the construction of expressways. Of this, Rs1,194 crore has been earmarked for Purvanchal Expressway and Rs 1,000 crore each for Bundelkhand Expressway and Gorakhpur Link Expressway. Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for land acquisition to develop the defence corridor along with the Bundelkhand Expressway.
The budget contains a provision of Rs 100 crore for the strengthening of Agra-Lucknow Expressway (Built during the Samajwadi Party regime of Akhilesh Yadav).
With the state government getting clearance for an international airport at Jewar (Bulandshahr) district, Rs 800 crore has been proposed for acquiring the land for the construction of an airport. Further, a provision of Rs1000 crore has been made for the construction and expansion of airstrips in the state.
Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal announced that a new scheme, “Kanya Sumangala Yojana” will be started from the next financial year with a view to raising the health and education standards of girls, for which an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore has been proposed in the budget, the minister said.
Minorities’ welfare has been given due importance in the budget. While a provision of Rs 459 crore has been made for the modernisation of Arabi-Farsi madarsas, Rs 942 crore has been earmarked under the scholarship scheme for students belonging to the minority communities.
For the tourism sector, Rs 101 crore has been proposed for the integrated development of major tourist places in Ayodhya. Besides, a provision of Rs 200 crore has been made for the construction of an airport at Ayodhya.
For the modernisation of the police force, a budgetary provision of Rs 204 crore has been made with Rs 700 crore proposed for the construction of 36 new police stations and barracks.
Other notable features of the 2019-20 budget are Rs 25 crore for setting up a satellite centre of King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow in Balrampur district and Rs 357 crore for Rural Institute of Medical Sciences, Saifai (Mulayam Singh Yadav’s home village in Etawah district).