Pujari presents Rs 8,126.32cr Supplementary Budget

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Bhubaneswar: Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari Wednesday presented a supplementary budget of Rs 8,126.32crore for 2019-20 amid uproar by Opposition members on the first day of Winter session of Odisha Assembly.

The supplementary budget provision was made in addition to the Rs 1.39 lakh crore budget presented in the House for 2019-20, June 28.

The minister proposed Rs 267.23 crore for administrative expenditure, Rs 7,432.80 crore for programme implementation, Rs 6.52 crore for disaster response fund and Rs 419.78 crore for transfer from state.

Pujari told reporters outside the House that the supplementary budget will be financed by tied up resources to the extent of Rs 2,981.88 crore, receipt of non-tax revenue Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 500cr from mining and Rs 500 crore from other sources) and surrender of grants allocated in the annual budget of 2019-20 (Rs 4,144.50 crore), he said.

In this budget, the government has made a provision of Rs 730 crore for land acquisition for development of Jagannath temple and Puri town under Abadha scheme. Provision of Rs 1,073 crore was made for education, sports and skill development sectors while Rs 190 crore allocated for supplementary nutrition programme (Poshan).

The minister also said, Rs 459 crore was provided for public health-care, `501 crore for social security measures, Rs 500 crore for National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Rs 185.52 crore for Re1 per kg rice, Rs 4.6 crore for police stations under Mo Sarkar initiative and Rs 251 crore for rural housing schemes and Rs 948 crore for other rural development sectors.

The government has made provision of funds for conduct of election to form councils of urban local bodies (ULBs).  Asked why the outlay of supplementary budget has come down this year in comparison to the past years, Finance Secretary AKK Meena said, “If the size of supplementary budget is 10 per cent less than that of annual outlay (Rs 1, 39, 000cr) it should be assumed that the annual budget was good and need-based. The supplementary budget was prepared according to fresh demands and programmes.” The government had presented a supplementary budget of Rs 12,794crore last year.

Under the programme expenditure, about 45 per cent is allocated for social sector, 51 per cent for economic sector and 4 per cent for general services, he said.

The secretary further said, the total debt burden of the state has touched Rs 83,307crore, which is 15.4 per cent of the GSDP. The state has raised Rs 3,500 crore from open market in the current fiscal to repay existing loans and create infrastructures.

When Pujari was tabling the budget, Opposition BJP and Congress members were shouting slogans in the well of the house demanding a discussion on increasing cases of sexual assault of women in Odisha.

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