Assam Finance minister presents Rs 1193 crore deficit state budget

Himanta Biswa Sarma presented the Rs 1193.04 crore deficit budget while announcing 18 flagship schemes.

The Assam Finance Minister announced in his budget speech the state government will provide rice at Rs 1 per kg to 53 lakh households of the state.

“We will provide rice at a further subsidized rate of 1 rupee per kg instead of the present rate of 3 rupees per kg and this move will benefit 53 Lakh households,” Himanta said in his budget speech.

The Assam Finance Minister also announced that, the state government will provide one tola gold to brides belonging to all communities where it is customary to provide gold at the time of wedding and promising to create development councils for indigenous Muslims for holistic development of the council among others.

“The benefit under this scheme can be availed upon formal registration of the marriages under the Special Marriage (Assam) Rules, 1954 and will reach the beneficiaries right in time for the social marriage. In order to make this scheme more focused, we will limit it to only the economically weaker sections, whose annual income is below Rs. 5 lakh. This benefit, however, consistent with our Population Policy, shall be available only for the firsttwo live offsprings of a family and only in cases where the bride and the groom have both attained the legal age of 18 years and 21 years respectively which will be strictly enforced by verification of birth certificate and through medical examination, if required,” the Assam minister said.

The Assam Finance Minister further said that, for the Financial Year 2019-20, the state government is introducing a scheme to provide battery operated “e-bikes” to all girl students who secure 1st division or above in their higher secondary examinations for commuting to their places of higher studies. This will not just save precious time and facilitate a smoother commute to their places of study, will also empower our girls. This initiative will also promote environment friendliness.

The Assam Finance Minister also said that, children of families earning less than Rs 2 lakh per annum to get free textbooks upto university level, all college students from tea garden community to get Rs 10,000 monthly stipiend, Rs 10 lakh aid will be given to each 108 religious places of all faith that are 100 years old in the state, the state government has launched Bhasha Gaurav Achoni scheme for the protection and promotion of tribal languages of the state, to provide each of the 8000 Gaon Burahs with smart phones, relief package for boatmen, restaurant, etc. affected by the opening of Dhola-Sadia and Bogibeel Bridges, creation of Development Corporation for Indigenous Muslims etc.

The Budget Estimates of 2019-20 show a receipt of Rs 98339.05 crore under the consolidated fund of the state and out of this, Rs 83147.99 crore is on revenue account and the remaining Rs 15191.06 crore is under capital account.

“After adding the receipt of Rs 196542.08 crore under public account and Rs 100 crore under contingency fund, the aggregate receipts amount to Rs 294981.13 crore. As against this, total expenditure from the consolidated fund of the State in 2019-20 is estimated at Rs 99418.91 crore of which Rs 79742.26 crore is on revenue account and Rs 19676.65 crore is on capital account, Rs 194855.42 crore on public account, Rs 100 crore on contingency fund,” the Assam minister said.

“The aggregate expenditure for the financial year 2019-20 is estimated at Rs 294374.33 crore. The estimated transactions during the year will result in an estimated surplus of Rs 606.80 crore. With the opening deficit of Rs 1799.84 crore will lead to a budget deficit of Rs 1193.04 crore at the end of the year 2019-20,” the Assam Finance Minister said.

“I presented a budget worth above Rs 1 lakh crore in the Assam assembly. There is no taxation proposal in this budget. This budget includes various development projects including capital asset variation. So, I am sure that, the people of Assam will take this budget with positivity and the government will generate revenue, so that, we can implement the budget in toto,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The Assam Finance Minister further said that, the Union government has taken two major decisions for Assam as the Union government has decided to lay a pipeline from Paradip, Odisha to Numaligarh refinery to lay gas grid and these will definitely work as a engine of growth for the development of industry in this region. The government has sanctioned almost Rs 22,000 crore for Numaligarh refinery expansion and Rs 15,000 crore for the gas grid.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)

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