Yogi govt's Supplementary Budget out Tuesday, strong focus on infra likely

Budget size seen at Rs 15,000 cr; outlay likely for flagship projects such as Bundelkhand Expressway, Ganga Expressway

Yogi Adityanath government will table its first Supplementary Budget for current 2019-20 financial year during the ongoing monsoon session in Uttar Pradesh legislature tomorrow.

The size of the maiden Supplementary Budget is likely to be worth Rs 15,000 crore with outlays expected for primary sectors, including agriculture and infrastructure.

According to sources, the Budget demands could include allocations for Adityanath’s flagship infrastructure projects such as Bundelkhand Expressway and Ganga Expressway, among others.

Besides, the Supplementary Budget could provide funds for fulfilling the cultural agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, including mega Deepawali festival celebrations in Ayodhya later this year.

At the same time, additional funds are likely to be allocated for power, tourism, irrigation, public works department (PWD) as well for various new and proposed projects.

The Adityanath government had on February 7, 2019 tabled Annual Budget 2019-20 of Rs 4.79 trillion. Therefore, together with Supplementary Budget to be presented on Tuesday, the size of the UP Budget would touch almost Rs 4.94 trillion so far.

Since, the state normally presents another Supplementary Budget during the winter session of legislature, the UP Budget size is projected to breach the figure of Rs 5 trillion for the current fiscal.

Since, Budget is the subject of legislative privilege, its purported size is kept under wraps until tabled in both the houses of UP legislature viz. Vidhan Sabha (lower house) and Vidhan Parishad (upper house). Supplementary Budget is tabled to get legislative approval for meeting additional or sudden expenses during the course of financial year for ongoing or new projects and schemes.

In Annual Budget 2019-20, the state government had followed fiscal discipline and tamed fiscal deficit at Rs 46,910 crore or 2.97%, thus within the mandated 3 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

For current fiscal, the state has estimated revenue receipt of Rs 77,640 crore from State Goods & Services Tax (SGST) and Value Added Tax (VAT). The excise duty kitty in 2019-20 is expected at a healthy Rs 31,517 crore.

Since Lok Sabha elections were due, the BJP government had, in Annual Budget, provided funds liberally to all key sectors, especially agriculture, health, education, energy, social welfare department etc to keep electorate in good humour.

Meanwhile, the brief monsoon session, which had started on July 18, will have limited about 7 sittings. However, the opposition has already cornered the BJP government over Sonbhadra massacre incident, in which 10 tribals were allegedly shot dead in an old property dispute.

Recently, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had met the kin of those killed in the massacre only after being detained by the government for several hrs. Yesterday, CM Adityanath also met the victims’ families and announced monetary compensation apart from other relief measures.