TN bud proposes 1 lakh houses in cyclone-hit areas, to cost Rs

The Tamil Nadu budget Friday proposed one lakh concrete houses at an estimated Rs 1,700 crore to replace huts damaged in last year's cyclone besides expanding the crop insurance ambit to include more factors that damage the farm produce.

Presenting the fourth budget of the AIADMK government in the assembly, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said no new taxes were proposed for the 2019-20 fiscal and assured the revenue deficit will come down in the coming years.

Panneerselvam, who holds the Finance portfolio, pegged the state's revenue deficit at around Rs 14,300 crore for the coming financial year.

The state's net outstanding debt by March 31, 2020 will be Rs 3,97,495.96 crore with a debt to GSDP ratio of 23.02 per cent, which he said was well within the debt-GSDP norm of 25 per cent.

Amongst the proposals, the governmnent will procure 2,000 new electric buses, besides 12,000 new BS-VI vehicles, at an outlay of Rs 5,890 crore with loan assistance from the German firm KfW, he said.

He said that as announced by Chief Minister by K Palaniswami earlier, the government will take up construction of one lakh concrete houses in cyclone Gaja hit districts, such as Nagapattinam and Thanjavur.

"The government will take up the construction of one lakh concrete houses with a unit cost of Rs 1.70 lakh to replace damaged huts in districts affected by Gaja cyclone at a total cost of Rs 1,700 crore," he said.

Of this, the Centre was expected to share about Rs 720 crore while the state government will bear the rest Rs 980 crore, he said.

The state's share will be met from debt to be raised through the Tamil Nadu Rural Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

For the farm sector, the government said it will notify more crops and expand the coverage under crop insurance in the next fiscal.

Farmers face frequent crop failures due to drought or flood, he said, adding crop insurance scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, was being implemented since 2016 to mitigate weather risk.

"During
2019-20, this government will notify more crops and expand the coverage under crop insurance."