Yogi government tables Supplementary Budget of over Rs 80 billion

Allocates Rs 5 billion for airports in Noida, Ayodhya

Amid din by the opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath government on Wednesday tabled its second Supplementary Budget of the current fiscal 2018-19 totalling over Rs 80 billion. 

The budgetary proposals include Rs 5 billion for two airports, including the Greenfield Jewar International Airport in Noida and an airstrip in the temple town of Ayodhya.

In the first Supplementary Budget tabled in August 2018, the government had sought additional funds worth Rs 348 billion for ongoing projects. Together with the Annual Budget 2018-19 of Rs 4.28 trillion and the two Supplementary Budgets of Rs 348 billion and Rs 80 billion respectively, the total Budget for the current financial year has increased to Rs 4.70 trillion.

Apart from the civil aviation department, the government has proposed additional allocations towards energy, agriculture, excise, medical, home, urban development, transport, environment, public works, justice and social welfare departments. The winter session of the state legislature had started yesterday.

Supplementary Budget is tabled to get the legislature approval for additional expenses during the course of the financial year. With these additional funds, the government would loosen its purse strings for projects to keep the public in good humour in run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, when ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mascot and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would seek a reelection against a joint opposition.

Of the total Supplementary Budget size of Rs 80 billion, the capital and revenue heads comprise about Rs 46 billion and Rs 34 billion respectively. 

The Budget allocates Rs 2.5 billion to state power utility UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) against operative losses under the Centre’s flagship UDAY scheme for the restructuring of the power distribution (discom) companies.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the government had judiciously utilised the allocated budgets so far. He claimed the government had expanded its revenue base as well under different heads, including Goods and Services Tax (GST), stamp and registration, transport, excise etc.

The CM said the state had clocked Rs 100 billion higher GST collections, while excise mop had been higher by Rs 49 billion, followed by stamp and registration, mining and transport departments at Rs 16 billion, Rs 6.58 billion and Rs 4 billion respectively. 

“So far, there were only 13 medical colleges, while we are working on 15 new medical colleges, apart from a cancer institute in Varanasi,” Adityanath added.

In the backdrop of crushing defeats in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the BJP government in UP is leaving no stone unturned to repeat the 2014 poll performance of the saffron party.

In 2014 Lok Sabha poll, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal had won 73 of the total 80 constituencies in the state.