Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced on Thursday that the state has attained a revenue surplus status and it is largely self-sufficient now in terms of meeting requirements. In reply to the Assembly during the monsoon session on the supplementary budget, Adityanath said the state remains fully committed to cooperating with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for a $5 trillion economy and attaining a $1 trillion economy at the state level. In this context, a supplementary budget of more than Rs 12,000 crore has been brought in.
He said that 44% of the funds of the February budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year have been spent and 20% out of that have been expended. The 2024-25 budget has grown to Rs 7.5 lakh crore, which is twice the size of the 2015-16 budget. Adityanath said that bringing the supplementary budget was to cater to the requirements of the state, which came up after the budget in February was passed and immediately implemented in April.
He said this supplementary budget would attract more investment in Uttar Pradesh and stated that state GDP and per capita income have increased more than twofold. There has been a significant economic turnaround, he remarked with Uttar Pradesh, once sixth or seventh in the country ranking, is now the second-largest economy in the country.
It has also increased the contribution towards national GDP from 6-7% to 9-10%, because of effective resource mobilization, making it one of the states with a revenue surplus. He attributed the success to stringent measures against tax evasions and improvements in the Credit Deposit ratio which he said has risen from 44 percent in 2017 to 60 percent today reflecting increased job opportunities.
It also provided for money for several infrastructure priorities, including the Ganga Expressway, which will complete its main carriageway by December 2024 – well before the Prayagraj Maha Kumbh in 2025. The project is aimed at connecting the Western and Eastern Uttar Pradesh with much better connectivity. Several other expressways are also under implementation, including Chitrakoot Link Expressway, Gorakhpur Link Expressway, Ballia Link Expressway. There are also plans in the pipeline for a new expressway to connect Agra-Lucknow Expressway with Shahjahanpur and Farrukhabad.
Inter-state connectivity is also being brought up to four-lane roads, and the process is on for an India-Nepal Friendship Gate on the Nepal border to ease out relations with neighboring states. Besides, a new industrial hub in Bundelkhand, at par with Noida, was planned to be set up in 36,000 acres under BIDA, Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority, to rejuvenate it after 46 years.
The freshly inaugurated Rapid Rail service from Delhi to Meerut diminishes the travel time from almost three and a half to four hours down to just 40-45 minutes long. This is made possible through the new 12-lane expressway and rail service.
Opposing the supplementary budget brought forward, Opposition Leader Mata Prasad Pandey claimed it is introduced only in extreme situations. According to him, a big chunk of the original budget remains unspent, and the need for supplementary budgeting is hard to justify. Pandey expressed concerns over financial irregularity and accused the government of making announcements without budgeting their funds.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna responded to this by saying that it is a standard provision and there is no irregularity in the supplementary budget. Congress leader Aradhana Mishra Mona and other party leaders also gave their brief views before the supplementary budget was passed with a voice vote, and the assembly was adjourned sine die.
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