UP CM Akhilesh Yadav presents ‘mini poll budget’ to fund dream projects

The CM said he was presenting an interim budget for 2016-2017 and the new government elected after the 2017 assembly elections will present a complete budget.

Updated on: Dec 22, 2016, 01:31:24 IST

Hindustan Times, Lucknow | By Umesh Raghuvanshi

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Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav presented a ‘mini poll budget’ in the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday to provide additional funds for his ambitious projects ahead of the 2017 assembly elections in the state.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on his way to attend state assembly session in Lucknow on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016. (PTI)

As Opposition members shouted slogans, the chief minister rose to present the second supplementary demand of grant for Rs 1,683.11 crore for his dream projects in 2016-2017.

He also presented a vote on account of Rs 1.34 lakh crore for the first five months of 2017-2018 (April-August) to meet the government’s committed expenditure.

In his written speech, the chief minister said he was presenting an interim budget for 2016-2017. The new government elected after the 2017 assembly elections will present a complete budget, he said.

In the supplementary demands, an additional Rs 1,000 crore has been proposed for construction and completion of the Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway. Akhilesh is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of the expressway on Thursday. A sum of Rs 4.40 crore is proposed for 20 ambulances equipped with advanced life support system on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway that will be connected with east UP through the expressway.

An additional RS 450 crore is proposed for construction of roads, bridges and link roads to give a message that there was no paucity of funds after Akhilesh took away PWD from his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who he dismissed as minister.

Keen to give a pro-development message, the chief minister wants to meet the aspirations of people in different areas. This will also ensure additional funds to connect small habitations of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Villages, an SP government project, with main roads.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Umesh Raghuvanshi
Umesh Raghuvanshi is an award-winning journalist with nearly four decades of demonstrated experience in the profession. He is the author of Ayodhya: The Gods Are Liberated. He is skilled in storytelling and newswriting, and writes on politics, governance, legislature, finance, environment, and social issues. He is based in Lucknow, is well-travelled, and has covered several national and international events, as well as all assembly and parliament elections in Uttar Pradesh since 1984. He has been a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a Metcalf Fellow at the Metcalf Institute of Marine and Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island, USA. He is a science graduate from DBS College, Dehradun, and holds an MA in Political Science from DAV (PG) College, Dehradun. He won the KC Kulish International Merit Award for excellence in journalism (2015) and received it in New Delhi in 2017. He also won a competition organised by the United Nations Environment Programme DTIE OzonAction Programme in 2009 that assessed coverage of the interlinkages between ozone and climate change. He was awarded in Beijing, China, in 2010. He started his career with a Dehradun-based English daily in the early 1980s and later worked with The Pioneer too.Read More