E-Paper
UP’s second supplementary budget to fund infra, health projects
The Yogi Adityanath government proposes to present the second supplementary demands for grants for 2019-2020 to fund some of the ongoing infrastructure development
The Yogi Adityanath government proposes to present the second supplementary demands for grants for 2019-2020 to fund some of the ongoing infrastructure development and health projects and make allocations for a few new ones in the winter session of the state legislature commencing here on December 17.
“Yes, we will present the second supplementary demands for grants for 2019-2020 in the state assembly on December 17, to speed up ongoing development projects, allocate funds for incomplete projects and also for new ones,” Uttar Pradesh finance minister Suresh Khanna said on Wednesday.
Although Khanna refused to elaborate, people aware of the developments said the second supplementary demands for grant may incorporate allocations for expressways, including the Ganga Expressway, the Purvanchal Expressway and the Bundelkhand Expressway and implementation of some important projects in Ayodhya and other districts.
As the state government is deciding to set up new medical colleges at regular intervals, the second supplementary demands for grants may earmark funds for them. Allocations may also be made for the Defence Expo that will be held in Lucknow in February and implementation of some important announcements made in recent months. The UP assembly’s proposed programme for the brief winter session indicates that the state government will present the second supplementary budget on December 17 and the same will be put to vote on December 19. Much significance is being attached to the state government’s decision to present the second supplementary demands for grants in 2019-2020.
The then UP finance minister Rajesh Agarwal presented first supplementary demands for Rs 13,594.87 crore (Rs 135.94 billion) for 2019-2020 on July 23, 2019 with a focus on allocation of infrastructure development projects and meeting other commitments like developing major towns as SMART cities.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has talked about making the state a trillion dollar economy and allocations for development projects would indicate a desire to push the pace of growth in Uttar Pradesh.
At a recent programme, some experts had said the state was unlikely to achieve the objective of becoming a trillion dollar economy in the next five years. Experts said taking the state’s economy to half a trillion would also not be an easy task at the present rate of growth.
Uttar Pradesh has a Gross State Domestic Product of Rs 1,542,432 crore and the state’s economy is far from witnessing double digit growth.
The state’s GSDP is estimated to have grown at about 6.5 percent in 2018-2019. The state will have to step up its growth rate by nearly five times to achieve the objective of becoming a trillion dollar economy, according to the experts.
The second supplementary demands for grants is likely to put an additional burden on the state exchequer in the absence of additional resource mobilisation and may add to the state’s indebtedness.
