Eyeing 2016 polls, Gogoi to present a pro-poor Budget

Few Schemes & Funds earmarked                                               

*    Fincial assistance for construction of one lakh eight hundred dwelling houses - Rs 25,200 lakh

*    Fincial assistance for artisans, petty traders - Rs 6300 lakh 

*    Fincial assistance for 200 poor widows in each of the 126 LACs - Rs 2520 lakh

*    Free healthcare schemes for BPL students below 18 years of age - Rs 100 lakh

*    10,000 bundles of yarn and 10,000 blankets for beneficiaries in each of the 126 LACs - Rs 10000 lakh

*    Special incentives for setting up of small and medium enterprises - Rs 2000 lakh

*    Residential girls’ school for BPL girl students in each of the districts headquarters - Rs 1000 lakh

*    Fincial assistance for marriage of unmarried girls from BPL families - Rs 700 lakh

*    Schemes for welfare of Adivasi people - Rs 2000 lakh

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, February 25: Eyeing the 2016 Assembly polls and to appease poor people in the State, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will announce several sops, most of which have short-term benefits, in the 2015-16 State Budget that will be presented by him in the Assembly on March 10. The ruling party will present a pro-poor budget also to tackle the anti-incumbency factor weighing heavy on it.

The budget session of the State Assembly will start from March 2.

The popularity of the ruling Congress in the State has been on the wane since the last Lok Sabha elections in which the party maged to win only three seats.

Sources said that most of those schemes to be announced in the 2015-16 budget would provide direct benefits to the poor people and crores of rupees had been earmarked for those schemes under the Plan heads.

The homeless people, including minority people, will be provided fincial assistance for construction of one lakh eight hundred dwelling houses, fincial assistance for artisans, petty traders, fincial assistance for 200 poor widows in each of the 126 LACs, 10,000 bundles of yarn and 10,000 blankets for beneficiaries in each of the 126 LACs, special incentives for setting up small and medium enterprises, residential girls’ school for BPL girl students in each of the districts headquarters, free healthcare schemes for BPL students below 18 years of age, fincial assistance for marriage of unmarried girls from BPL families, schemes for welfare of Adivasi people and many more such pro-poor announcements will be  made by Gogoi in his March 10 budget speech.

Sources privy to the ruling party in the State stated that time had come in the party to plug the loopholes in its functioning before the next year’s Assembly polls.

Most of the time of the present government’s third-term went in tackling inter-party dissidence and development works were put on the back burner, the result of which was reflected in the last Lok Sabha polls.