Pul presents Rs 367.58 crore deficit budget

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

Itagar, March 22: Aruchal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul today presented a 367.58 crore deficit budget with major thrust on social sectors without imposing any taxes.

Pul, who also hold the fince portfolio, while presenting the budget for 2016-17 in the floor of the assembly announced various measures for prudent fiscal magement which would ensure sustained, accelerated and broad-based economic growth to generate employment, create socio-economic opportunities, stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty.

He said, out of total receipt of Rs 12, 805 crore the plan size for the fincial year 2016-17 has been fixed at Rs 6,569 crore which was 14 per cent more than the plan size of 2015-16.

The non-plan expenditure for the fincial year has been projected at Rs 7,338.89 crore, he disclosed adding the deficit of Rs 367.58 crore is 1.80 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

“With the objective of achieving accelerated, innovative and inclusive growth, our government will ensure that every penny of public fund is utilised in the best public interest of the people of the state,” the chief minister said in his budget speech.

Pul, who has the distinction of the longest serving fince minister of the state said, “Our government aims to identify and remove the bottlenecks in development and growth process, prioritize critical infrastructure projects and bring about radical improvement in the human development index of the state.”

“We will strive for achieving an inclusive and a balanced growth process so as to ensure that the benefits of development percolates down to the lowest strata of society while ensuring equity in development,” the chief minister asserted.

Highlighting various developmental initiatives proposed in the budget, Pul said that the government has proposed an allocation of Rs 973.97 crore to develop the health sector while an allocation of Rs 1985.98 crore has been proposed in the budget to develop the dismal education sector.

“The allocation in the health sector is 51.5 per cent more than the Revised Estimate (RE) of 2015-16 while in the health sector it is 32 per cent more,” he said.

In the health sector the government proposed to provide all hospitals with modern investigation instruments and diagnostic services. All district hospitals would be made state of the art hospitals as per IPHS norms, besides providing uninterrupted water and power supply, separate common rooms for doctors and nurses, better working condition to doctors and other staff.

Pul said, the government proposed to provide stipend of Rs 1400 per month to students pursuing BSc (Nursing) ANM and GNM courses bvesides book grant of Rs 3000 for BSc nursing students, Rs 2000 for GNM students and Rs 1000 for ANM students respectively per annum.

An amount of Rs three lakh as ‘excursion fund per GNM/ANM schools would be provided from the fincial year 2016-17, he added.

In the education sector the budget proposed to create additiol posts of 184 teaching staff and 166 non-teaching staff in all the existing colleges and polytechnics.

The budget also proposed to create 171 posts of PGTs, junior librarians, lab assistants for 27 higher secondary and secondary schools to achieve the norms of pupil-teacher ratio as prescribed under Right to Education Act.

Pul disclosed that every school would be provided with 24X7 power and water supply besides enhancement of stipends and book grants.

He said the government had proposed to construct 40,000 individual house hold latrine (IHHL), 600 solid liquid waste magement (SLWM) units and 650 coomunity sanitary complexes (CSC) in the ensuing fincial year under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

The budget also proposed to introduce a scheme of soft loan to skilled persons for self employment fince.

The chief minister further informed that the government has allocated an amount of additiol Rs 68.26 crore for raising the minimum wages of labourers from existing 4,500 to 6000 per month.

In the agriculture sector, the chief minister proposed an allocation of 182 crore to streamline and encourage production of food grains besides proposal for developing a robust procurement and market linkage programme in tandem with the arrival of railway in the state and completion of major highway projects.

He said, in tune with the government’s commitment to develop the horticulture sector in the state, the government proposed an allocation of Rs 27 crore in the sector under State Development Agenda which is 500 per cent more than the last fincial year.

Moreover, he said, budget allocation of Rs 11 crore had been proposed for integrated Animal Husbandry & Veteriry and Dairy development besides Rs 5.86 crore for pisciculture development programme.

“Giving impetus to ‘Make in India’ and attractive investment in the state, the government has initiated action on the reform measures, especially online system for issue of clearances and documentation under single window clearance mechanism by the line department for establishment of enterprises as envisaged in the ease of doing business under ‘Make in India Initiative’,” he said adding an allocation of Rs 59.99 crore has been proposed to develop the industries and skill development sectors.

Pul said, to develop the geology and mining sector for revenue generation, an allocation of Rs 11 crore has been proposed in the budget while an allocation of Rs 86.77 crore proposed for development of the tourism sector.

“Our government is planning to establish integrated border check posts that will have tourist facilitation centre, cafeteria, toilets, police beat, tax and excise check gates, textile and handicraft emporium and parking place for development of tourist circuits. We will also provide subsidy to eligible ‘Hur se Rozgar’ tak trainees to set up bakery and patisseries in important tourist destitions,” he added.

To improve the power scerio, the budget also proposed an allocation of Rs 110 crore in the power sector under State Annual Development Agenda.

The chief minister in his budget speech also informed that the government has proposed a tentative allocation of Rs 38 crore to promote urban development sector while an amount of Rs 233 crore has been proposed in the infrastructure sector under the State Annual Development Agenda.

Pul in his budget also announced to implement the advertisement policy issued vide Gazette notification 1999 and to enhance the corpus for jourlist welfare from existing Rs one crore to two crore.

Moreover, the budget also proposed to earmark an additiol amount of Rs 2 crore for construction of media colony increasing the total allocation from Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore.

“CCTV camera with central feed in the nearest police station and security personnel will be provided in all the media houses in the state,” the chief minister informed adding, to encourage and promote film production in the state, the government proposed to make a fund provision of Rs 1.5 crore for procurement of film production equipments besides a provision of Rs 1 crore for broadcasting in electronic media.

An allocation of Rs 40 crore has also been proposed under State Development Agenda for development of the sports sector besides quantum hike in budget allocation to the information technology, transport, Art and Culture, Aruchal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) and Border Affairs departments.

The chief minister added that the budget has kept a provision of Rs 50 crore for overall development of backward districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding while, the MLA local area development fund has been enhanced from existing Rs 1.50 crore to Rs 2 crore per annum.

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