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U.P. Budget 2024-25: From housing to drainage, urban infra gets mega push
Focusing on beneficiaries, tackling strays and launching a new scheme to deal with flooding and drainage issues in cities, the Yogi 2.0 budget reveals a plan to provide better amenities for urban Uttar Pradesh
The Uttar Pradesh budget for 2024-25 provides a mega push to urban development and infrastructure with impressive allocations for the purpose. Higher than the previous year, these allocations reveal a beneficiary focus, too.
In view of the urban flooding and drainage issues that create problems each year, the Yogi 2.0 government has decided to start the Urban Flood and Storm Water Drainage Scheme.
Finance minister Suresh Khanna said this scheme has been aimed at finding a solution to the problems faced by the poor for decades. Khanna has proposed an initial investment of ₹1000 crore to launch the scheme.
Another ₹500 crore has been proposed for another new scheme for urban services and infrastructure development, indicating the government’s commitment to improving amenities for people in urban areas of the state. A sum of ₹400 crore has been proposed for the State Smart City scheme, 63 per cent more than the current year.
The government has proposed ₹400 crore, more than double the present allocation, for the Kanha Gaushala and Besahara Pashu Ashray Yojana (Destitute Animal Shelter Scheme) to tackle the problem of stray animals in urban areas, too.
One of the biggest allocations of ₹3948 crore has been made for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), the free housing scheme for the poor. This allocation shows the government’s continued focus on ‘labarthis (beneficiaries)’ who have emerged as a major vote bank for the ruling BJP over the last couple of elections.
While making the announcement about increased allocation for the scheme that is aimed at ensuring that all the poor have a roof above their heads, finance minister Suresh Khanna referred to how “only 2.51 lakh houses were constructed” between 2007 and 2017 – the 10-year period in which BSP and SP governments alternately held power in Uttar Pradesh.
Khanna added that since 2017 – when the Yogi government, now in its second consecutive term, came to power for the first time — an amount exceeding ₹35,236 crore was transferred through DBT (direct benefit transfer) to more than 17.65 lakh beneficiaries in the state.
A provision of about ₹3948 crore has now been proposed for the scheme.
The finance minister has also proposed ₹4500 crore for the AMRUT 2.0 scheme launched in 2021 while a provision of ₹2500 crore – the same as proposed last year – has been announced for holding a grand Maha Kumbh Mela due in 2025, two years before the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in 2027.
Road infrastructure projects have continued to gain prominence in the Yogi 2.0 government with the finance minister allocating ₹800 crore under the Mukhyamantri-Green Road Infrastructure Development Scheme (Urban), 60 per cent more than the allocation in the current fiscal. Another ₹675 crore have been proposed for the Mukhyamantri Nagariya Alp Viksit Malin Basti Vikas Yojana, double than the present allocation.
