The Yogi government tabled its first supplementary budget to the tune of Rs 13,594.87 crore for the 2019-20 fiscal in the Assembly on Tuesday. The Finance Bill for supplementary grants was tabled by Finance Minister Rajesh Agrawal in the presence of the Chief Minister.
On February 6 earlier this year, the UP government had tabled an annual budget of Rs 4.79 lakh crore for 2019-20. This is the first supplementary budget for the current fiscal sought by the state government and the budget size in this fiscal has now increased to over Rs 4. 92 lakh crore.
The focus of the supplementary budget is on infrastructure as a major share of the grants has been sought for urban development, Purvanchal Expressway, Bundelkhand Expressway and projects of Power, Irrigation and Public Works departments. The other heads of demand are UP Police and Tourism departments.
For infrastructure development, the government has sought Rs 850 crore for Purvanchal Expressway, Rs 1,150 crore for Bundelkhand Expressway and Rs 15 crore for Ganga Expressway.
The Chief Minister had announced the construction of Ganga Expressway linking Meerut with Pryagraj during the Kumbh Mela in January earlier this year.
The government also sought Rs 905.36 crore for power sector which includes power distribution companies and power generation projects. For Irrigation department, the government has sought Rs 800 crore for payment of power dues of lift canals and tubewells while Rs 24.84 crore has been sought for construction of ghats at Rapti river in Gorakhpur. For the remodelling of ‘Ram Ki Pairi’ in Ayodhya, the government has sought Rs 10 crore.
For PWD, a grant of Rs 605 has been proposed, which includes Rs 405 crore for bridges and Rs 200 crore for roads. In the supplementary budget, Rs 250 crore have been sought for UP Police. Of this, Rs 200 crore will be for land purchase for construction of police lines in districts created during the previous Mayawati-led BSP government.
The grants proposed for Tourism department are to the tune of Rs 163 crore and include Rs 105 crore for development of places of tourism, Rs 10 crore for development of Vindhyavasisni Dham at Mirzapur, Rs 10 crore for pilgrim centre at Namisharanaya in Sitapur, Rs 20 crore for Mughal museum at Agra and Rs 6 crore for Deepotsav at Ayodhya during Deewali.
The government has also sought Rs 2,175 crore for Urban Development department. Of this, Rs 175 crore are for the Smart City project, Rs 100 crore for sewage and drainage project and Rs 60 crore for construction of parks in each district headquarter with facilities like drinking water, yoga, pathways and benches.
The government has also sought Rs 349 crore for clearing the liabilities of Kumbh Mela held earlier this year at Prayagraj. The other major head of grant in supplementary budget is Medical Education.
A sum of Rs 7.5 crore has been sought for Trauma Centre at SGPGI, Rs 35 crore for satellite centres of KGMC in Balrampur and Rs 10 crore for 500-bed Paediatric hospital at Gorakhpur Medical College.
A token fund of Rs 14 lakh has also been sought for 14 district hospitals being upgraded as medical colleges. The debate on supplementary grants in the Assembly will be held on Wednesday and the Bill is likely to be passed the same day.
