UP budget: Medical varsity in Vajpayee's name announced

The Uttar Pradesh government announced on Thursday a medical university in the name of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and earmarked Rs 50 crore for it.

"Rs 50 crore has been proposed in the budget to set up the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University in Lucknow. Similarly, Rs 10 crore has been proposed for setting up an Ayush University in the state," Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal said in his budget speech.

The budget also proposed Rs 908 crore for upgrading select district hospitals into medical colleges and Rs 907 crore for various works of King George's Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow.

A total of Rs 25 crore has also been kept aside for setting up of a satellite centre of KGMU-Lucknow in Balrampur district.

A provision of Rs 854 crore has been made for various works of the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Rs 396 crore for various works of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute here.

The Rural Institute of Medical Sciences in Saifai has been allocated Rs 357 crore and Rs 248 crore has been provided for the expansion and development of the Lucknow Cancer Institute.

For the basic education department, a budget provision of Rs 18,485 crore for the Samagra Shiksha scheme.

The budget has proposed Rs 2,275 crore for mid-day meal programme; Rs 500 crore to develop infrastructural facilities in primary and senior primary schools.

A total of Rs 300 crore has been proposed for providing a pair of shoes, two pairs of socks and one sweater free of cost to each student of Class I-V in the schools run by the state basic education board, it said.

Besides, Rs 40 crore has been given for free distribution of uniforms to the students of primary and senior primary schools, Rs 5 crore to setup primary and senior primary schools in 'Vantangiya' villages and Rs 110 crore proposed for distribution of school bags in 2019-20.