The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday tabled its second supplementary budget for FY20 on the inaugural day of the brief winter session.
The budget, totaling Rs. 4,210.85 crore, including central grants worth nearly Rs. 330 crore, is to fund additional expenses during the current fiscal for some of the ongoing infrastructure development and make allocations for a few new ones.
While Rs. 1,700 crore has been allocated to the state industries department for the various ongoing and proposed infrastructure projects, Rs. 1,000 crore has been provided to the state energy department towards compensation for different schemes and another Rs. 6.77 crore for the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran scheme, Rs. 960 crore has been given to the UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) towards the prepayment of loan sourced from Hudco for the ongoing Purvanchal Expressway project, Rs. 500 crore for Purvanchal Expressway and another Rs. 200 crore has been allocated for the construction of Bundelkhand Expressway.
Apart from this, Rs. 86 crore has been provided for the organisation of the forthcoming 11th National Defence Expo in Lucknow from February 5-8, 2020, Rs. 23 crore has been given for the treatment and disposal of chromium waste in the industrial enclave of Rania in Kanpur Dehat district and a Rs. 25-crore allocation is for stubble management in the National Capital Region (NCR).
It may be mentioned that the problem of stubble burning has been in the news recently, as it is deemed to be one big reason responsible for the deteriorating air quality index in the national capital as well as the adjoining states. Both the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal have acted tough on all the northern states on the issue of environmental pollution emanating from the burning of stubble. The budget has also allocated Rs. 50 crore for the information department for publicity purposes.