E-Paper
Ahead of poll year, Chandigarh gets additional budget of ₹591 crore
The Chandigarh administration had sent a revised estimate to the Union finance ministry asking for the additional amount for the year 2023-24
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Union government on Thursday allocated an additional budget of ₹591 crore for the UT administration to be spent till March 31.
The UT administration had sent a revised estimate to the Union finance ministry asking for the additional amount for the year 2023-24.
Though Chandigarh had sought ₹7,000 crore for the year 2023-24, it received an allocation of ₹6,087.10 crore. With the additional budget, there has been an increase of 9.71% and the total budget has now reached ₹6,678 crore.
A senior officer of the UT administration said with the additional allocation, most of the ongoing projects will run smoothly. The additional budget will be under various heads and the budget for the Municipal Corporation will also be allocated soon out of the additional amount, he added.
Of the new revised estimates of ₹6,678.45 crore for the rest of the financial year (2023-24), the major component is education, which is ₹1,121.65 crore, which is about 16.80%, and energy which is ₹1,158.46 crore that is 17.35%. In education, money was spent on the modernisation and purchase of equipment, development of infrastructure for the NCC, graduate courses and construction of a new polytechnic for women and industrial training institute.
Also, housing and urban development forms another major component with the category being allocated ₹1,001.71 crore that is 15% of the total allocation followed by the police department, which now as per revised estimates, gets a total of ₹822.65 crore (12.32%)
The health’s revised estimate now is ₹780.68 crore which is 11.69%, transport is ₹463.67 crore which is 6.94%. Others form 19.91%, which is ₹1,329.63 crore.
Last financial year in 2022-23, during the revised estimates this time, the Chandigarh administration had been allocated an additional ₹396.33 crore which was about a 7.36% increase. In 2022-23, the budget estimates were ₹5,382.79 crore and later the revised estimates were ₹5,779.12 crore.
In March last year, the Centre had set aside a sum of ₹6,087.10 crore for the 2023-24 fiscal in the Union Budget. The overall budget was a boost as the education sector got ₹1,102.25 crore while an amount of ₹963.30 crore was for energy, ₹844.97 crore for housing and urban development, ₹743.40 crore for police, ₹661.79 crore for health and ₹400.68 crore for transport sectors. The allocation was ₹704.67 crore more than the Budget estimates of last year 2022-23, which were ₹5,382.79 crore. It had registered an increase of 13.08%.
UT’s pie
Total budget allocated – ₹6,678 crore
Education – ₹1,121 crore ( 16.80 %)
Energy – ₹1,158 crore ( 17.35 %)
Housing and urban development – ₹1,001 crore (15 %)
Health – ₹780 crore ( 11.69%)
Police – ₹822 crore ( 12.32 %)
Transport- ₹463 crore ( 6.94 %)
Others – ₹1,329 crore ( 19.91 %)
