Raipur: The Chhattisgarh Assembly unanimously approved Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai’s third supplementary budget on Tuesday. Finance Minister O.P. Choudhary presented a supplementary budget of ₹19,762.12 crore for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
This budget, along with previous ones, raises the total budget size to ₹1,75,342 crore for the year, comprising ₹1,47,446 crore from the main budget, ₹7,329 crore from the first supplementary budget, ₹805.71 crore from the second supplementary budget, and ₹19,762.12 crore from the third supplementary budget.
Just 12 days after the government was formed following the guideline of Modi ji’s guarantee, the government paid ₹3,716 crore as overdue bonus to over 12 lakh farmers for two years, Finance Minister O.P. Choudhary said.
He mentioned that this year, the government has procured a record 149 lakh tons of paddy at the support price, and with the end of paddy procurement on January 31, within a week, the government transferred ₹12,000 crore in the bank accounts of 25 lakh 49 thousand farmers which is itself a historic record.
According to the FM the government brought various financial reforms and received more than ₹6,000 crore in incentives from the central government. The government maintains a fine balance between increasing capital expenditure, and accelerating development plans.
The supplementary budget has a significant provision to fill old deficits and resolve liabilities while saving on interest through financial discipline and reforms, he said. The Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation, Chhattisgarh Housing Board, and Police Housing together hold loans amounting to approximately 3,500 crores and this supplementary budget, we are making pre-payments for these three loans. This will save over 50 crores in interest annually.
For the promotion of industrial activities, additional budget provisions have been includes establishment of pharmaceutical park in Rajnandgaon and Janjgir-Champa , and Naya Raipur.
76 crores have been allocated for establishing industrial institutes and engineering parks and for construction of women hostels in Raipur, Naya Raipur, Bilaspur, Rs 34 crores has been allocated.
Other budgetary provisions are – Rs 3 crores for police training schools, 145 crores for district hospitals, 1,278 crores for retirement pension beneficiaries, 320 crores for family pensions, 500 crores for police, 600 crores as compensation for losses incurred in food procurement by the State Cooperative Marketing Federation.
125 crores for minor and micro irrigation schemes, 37 crores for service and value retirement awards, 15 crores for the construction of anicuts/stop dams, 1,043 crores for the Naya Raipur Atal Nagar Development Authority, 195 crores for establishing new industrial areas, 86 crores for community health centers, 2,250 crores for the repayment of loans taken for road construction, 2,200 crores as grants for providing free electricity to agricultural pumps.
451 crores for the distribution of gram under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, 326 crores as subsidies for relief on electricity charges for consumers, and 600 crores for the reimbursement of expenses incurred in food procurement by the State Cooperative Marketing Federation and others.
