NEW DELHI, Feb 27
The Uttarakhand government has increased its 2024-25 annual budget size to Rs 89,230.07 crore, 15.27 per cent more than the previous year.
Almost half the budget outlay has gone to health and education, gender budgetting and infrastructural developments. The Dhami Government tabled its Rs 4.3 thousand crore revenue surplus budget for the coming financial year on Tuesday claiming that it aims to strengthen projected four pillars of goal for developed India, poor, youth, women and farmer.
Presenting the budget in the assembly, state Finance Minister Premchand Agrawal informed that the government has allocated ?89,230.07 crore as the busget estimate for 2024-25 which 15.27 percent higher than ?77,407.09 crore in the financial year 2023-24.
Agrawal said Uttarakhand has been registering more than 7.5 per cent growth for the past two financial years, 2022-23 and 2023-24, much higher than the national growth rate. He informed that the growth rate in 2022-23 was around 7.36 per cent and similar growth is expected in the present financial year as well.
The Budget statement that the state’s per capita income increased to Rs 2.6 lakh in 2024-25, nearly 12 per cent rise over financial year 2023-24. The state budget for the coming financial year further stressed that more 9.17 lakh people in Uttarakhand were brought out of poverty, according to a Niti Ayog Report of the Central government.
Speaking on the budget state Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “This budget is aimed at fulfilling the goal of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ concept as laid down out by the prime minister of India. It also aims at strengthening four main sections of the society poor, youth, women and farmer. We have also shown the big leap state has made in its poverty elevation mission.” The Rs 89.23 thousand crore budget for the current financial include ? 15,376 crore for health and education. Apart from this ?14,376 crore has been allocated for various women welfare schemes as a part of gender budget and ?13,780 crore for infrastructural developments in the state.
?5658 crore has been fixed for the welfare of the poor and poverty elevation, ?2568 crore for urban development and ?2450 crore for agriculture sector. The new allocations in the state budget were ?850 crore for mega projects schemes, ?710 crore for Jamrani Dam Projects in Kumaon, ?300 crore for Song River dam project and 15 other developmental projects across the state.
