Supplementary budget to be tabled in UP Assembly session starting Aug 20

The supplementary budget, which would be the first in the current fiscal, will have provisions for various welfare schemes started during the pandemic

The monsoon session in the Uttar Pradesh state assembly will begin from August 20, with the state government likely to table the supplementary budget along with ten ordinances.

The supplementary budget, which would be the first this fiscal, will have provisions for various welfare schemes started during the pandemic. Earlier, on February 18, the UP government had tabled the annual budget for Rs 5.12 trillion in the state assembly. The budget session this year was convened on February 13 and was to end on March 7. However, due to the Covid crisis, it was summed on February 28.

While the state government has not announced the size of supplementary budget yet, it could be for Rs 15,000 crore, looking at the various schemes initiated during the past four months of the Covid crisis. The state government has deposited money directly into the bank accounts of the poor, daily wagers, roadside vendors, apart from providing free rations till October this year. It has also given Rs 1,000 relief to each migrant worker entering the state. The state government has also increased the number of man-days under the MNREGA and work on various big project was restarted during the lockdown period. Apart from that, it has started the internship scheme for technically qualified youth in the state. During the pandemic, the state had disbursed loans to MSMEs by organising special camps. The start-up policy of UP government has been revised and besides Information Technology, all other industrial sectors have been added to it.

According to officials of the finance department, apart from these welfare schemes, the supplementary budget may have monetary provisions for expressways, metro projects and other sectors.

Earlier there were plans to hold a virtual session of the state assembly but now it would be held in the traditional manner. The UP state assembly has a capacity for 403 legislators and at present, there are 399 members in it. An official in the assembly secretariat said that following social distancing norms, only 200 legislators can be accommodated, hence other members might be asked to sit in the assembly hall.