Suresh Kumar Khanna, the Finance Minister of Uttar Pradesh, submitted the “development-oriented” Budget 2023–24 in the state Assembly today, with an emphasis on infrastructure.
The budget included ₹1,050 crore for the “Chief Minister Kanya Sumangala Yojana,” ₹4,032 crore for needy widows, and ₹600 crore for the “Samuhik Vivah” plan for the marriage of girls of all classes.
The finance minister recommended ₹150 crore for a marriage grant plan for impoverished people’s daughters from other backward castes.
A provision of ₹3,600 crore has been allocated in the budget for the fiscal year 2023–24 to provide tablets and smartphones to eligible students under the Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Plan.
On the infrastructure front, the finance minister requested a budget of about ₹21,159 crore for road and bridge building and ₹6,209 crore for maintenance.
Mr. Khanna stated that ₹3,473 crore is envisaged for bridge and road projects for agricultural marketing facilities and ₹1,525 crore for rural roads.
Although ₹1,700 crore is suggested for railway overhead bridge building and ₹1,850 crore for other bridges, the budget proposes ₹2,588 crore for state highway widening, strengthening, and new works.
Mr. Khanna suggested a budget of ₹2,538 crore for widening, strengthening, and new works on major and other district roads.
The budget planned ₹1,000 crore for the construction of “Dharmarth Marg” with religious tourism (roads to religious places) in mind.
Mr. Khanna said the budget also included ₹3,000 crore for road maintenance and 2,500 crore for building from the State Road Fund.
Under the new Uttar Pradesh Tourism Policy 2022, the finance minister has set an investment target of ₹10 lakh crore and the creation of 20,000 jobs over the next five years.
A budget provision of ₹7,248 crore was also suggested for the old age/farmer pension system, with Divyang Pension Yojana receiving ₹1,120 crore.
He stated that a total of ₹12,631 crore has been recommended for different programmes under the National Rural Health Mission.
Earlier, the finance minister informed reporters that it would be the largest budget in Uttar Pradesh’s history.
The state administration submitted an annual budget of ₹6.15 lakh crore for 2022–23 last year. In December 2022, a supplementary budget of ₹33,769.55 crore was proposed, bringing the overall amount of the budget to almost ₹6.50 lakh crore.
