Uttarakhand's Rs 89,000 cr Budget to focus on women's welfare & education

The Uttarakhand Government has presented an annual budget of over Rs 89230 crore for the fiscal year 2024-25, with a focus on the infrastructure of the state, women's welfare, health and education.

On the second day of the budget session of the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday, the state's Finance Minister, Dr Prem Chand Agarwal presented the annual budget for the fiscal year 2024-25.

Dhami government has allocated Rs 574 crore specifically for women's welfare, with a strong focus on empowering women.

"With the aim of 'Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas', the budget of Rs 89230 crore presented by the Pushkar Singh Dhami government in the Assembly on Tuesday for the financial year 2024-25 has focused on the top ten sectors," the government said.

In the budget presented by the government in the House, the state government has made a provision of Rs 15376 crore for health and education.

Similarly, the state government has spent Rs 13780 crore for infrastructure development, Rs 5658 crore for poor welfare, Rs 2910 crore for rural development, Rs 2565 crore for urban development, Rs 2415 crore for farmers, Rs 1145 crore for technical and higher education, Rs 1145 crore for youth welfare.

A provision of Rs 534 crore for women's welfare, Rs 574 crore for women's welfare and Rs 487 crore for ecology-economy has been made in the annual budget.

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami, earlier on Tuesday said that the state government presented a budget of Rs 89,230 crore for the year 2024-25, which is 15.27 per cent more than last year.

"The state government is working with a determination without any option for a strong Uttarakhand. Our government has made more than 30 policies to promote industrial development and employment and its positive effects are also visible.

The economic growth rate of Uttarakhand has been 7.63 per cent in the year 2022-23, which is higher than the national average," Dhami said. He further said that almost the same rate is expected in the year 2023-24 also.

The Chief Minister said, "According to the Multidimensional Poverty Index released by NITI Aayog, 9 lakh 17 thousand 299 people in the state have come out of the poverty line."

The Chief Minister said that a provision of Rs 5,658 crore has been made in the budget for the welfare of the poor. This includes Rs 93 crore for housing for the poor, Rs 600 crore for food grains supply and Rs 55 crore for free gas refills.