Uttar Pradesh finance minister Suresh Khanna on Monday presented a Rs 5.5 lakh crore Budget, including Rs 1.55 lakh crore outlay for capex, for 2021-22, in the state assembly. The first paperless Budget, which is also the fifth Budget of the present government before the state heads for assembly elections early next year, saw a modest increase of Rs 37,410 crore or 7.3% over FY21 Budget size.
The fiscal deficit for FY22 is estimated at Rs 90,730 crore, which is 4.17% of the estimated Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), while the state’s debt liability is estimated to be 28.1% of GSDP. The Budget has given a huge thrust on upgrading health infrastructure and making provisions for Covid vaccination, along with prioritising infrastructure.
Among the big-ticket projects, the government has made a provision of Rs 12,242 crore for strengthening medical and health infrastructure. While Rs 5,085 crore have been provided for the construction of medical colleges in as many as 39 districts and creating diagnostic infrastructure for primary healthcare facilities, Rs 7,157 crore has been allocated for various health schemes, including Rs 5,395 crore for Rashtriya Gramin Swasthya Mission, Rs 1,300 crore for Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Rs 142 crore for Ayushman Bharat Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Yojana and Rs 320 crore made for Pradhanmantri Matritva Vandana Yojana.
The Budget has also provisioned Rs 10,650 crore for various expressways. While Rs 3,450 crore has been allocated for the three under-construction expressways in the state — Rs 1,492 crore for the 296-km long Bundelkhand Expressway, Rs 1,107 crore for the 340-km long Purvanchal Expressway and Rs 870 crore for the 91-km long Gorakhpur Link Expressway, the government has also allocated a whopping Rs 7,200 crore for the land acquisition of the 594-km long Ganga Expressway project and Rs 489 crore for its construction work.
To improve air connectivity and boost tourism, the government has allocated over Rs 2,100 crore for airports in the state. While Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated for the international airport in Jewar, Rs 101 crore has been provisioned for the expansion of the airport in Ayodhya.
The other major allocations for infrastructure projects include Rs 597 crore for Kanpur Metro Rail Project, `478 crore for Agra Metro Rail project and Rs 1,326 crore for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor. A provision of `100 crore has also been proposed for the metro rail project in Varanasi and Gorakhpur.
A sum of Rs 10,029 crore has been allocated for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban), Rs 2,200 crore for AMRUT Yojana, Rs 2,000 crore for Smart City scheme in 10 cities, Rs 1,000 crore for Mukhya Mantri Samagra Sampada Vikas Yojana, Rs 7,000 crore for PM Awas (rural) and Rs 5,000 crore for PM Sadak Yojana.
The Budget estimates a total expenditure of Rs 5.50 lakh crore, which includes Rs 3.95 lakh crore as revenue expenditure while Rs 1.55 lakh crore is capital account. The total receipts are estimated at Rs 5.06 lakh crore, which includes Rs 4.18 lakh crore by way of revenue receipts and Rs 87,841.40 crore by way of capital receipts.
Of the total revenue receipts of Rs 4.18 lakh crore, the government’s own tax revenue would be to the tune of `3.05 lakh crore, while Rs 1.19 lakh crore would be the state’s share in central taxes.
