Stepping away from an industry-centric Budget for a second time in a row, the Gujarat government on Tuesday presented one focused on the social sectors.
Last year, in its modified Budget for 2014-15 as well, the state government under its first woman chief minister, Anandiben Patel, had emphasised education, nutrition and health care.
At 48.5 per cent or Rs 38,484 crore of the total outlay of Rs 79,295 crore for 2015-16, the social sector, much of which went into health, education, women and youth-related schemes and projects, saw the highest allocation. Followed by irrigation and flood control at Rs 13,937 crore.
“Inclusive growth was our objective. Among the social sectors, highest priority has been given to education and health. In health, a new policy is being planned to assist hospitals in buying high-end equipment, as well as to help medical colleges expand. We also plan to set up more diagnostic centres on a PPP (public-private partnership) model in areas where there are no such centres,” said Saurabh Patel, minister of finance, after presenting his first Budget.
Some major provisions are Rs 9,000 crore for the Sardar Sarovar project, Rs 915 crore for the ‘statue of unity’; Rs 4,878 crore for agriculture and co-operatives, including Rs 10 crore for a new organic farming policy; Rs 22,788 crore for education, Rs 7,822 crore for health and family welfare, Rs 2,517 crore for medical education and research, Rs 250 crore for woman and child development, Rs 8,297 crore for the roads and building department, Rs 1,252 crore for ports and transportation and Rs 10,270 crore for urban development and urban housing.
Also, Rs 150 crore for works related to smart cities, Rs 75 crore for the Dream
City Project at Surat and Rs 611 crore for the initial phase of the Ahmedabad Metro
Rail Project. Plus, Rs 320 crore for a new textile policy, Rs 10 crore for a new textile university in the Dream City at Surat, and Rs 30 crore for the Dholera Special Investment Region.
“We have also made a primary provision of Rs 10 crore for a proposed regional rail project, to be carried out in partnership with Rail Vikas Nigam, Government of India. Initially, the response for a regional network of local trains connecting Ahmedabad with nearby towns was low. In recent meetings, the responses has improved. The proposed project will connect 38 stations. We will be setting up a new company in collaboration with the Centre for this,” Patel said.
In the revised estimates for 2014-15, the government expects a surplus of Rs 1,757 crore. The Budget saw 132 new schemes for women, Patel said. The government announced the setting up of two new universities, one in Saurashtra and one to cater to the largely tribal areas of Panchmahals, Dahod, Chhota Udepur and Mahisagar districts.
