Puducherry chief minister N Rangasamy on Monday August 22, 2022, has presented a Rs 10,696.61 crore tax-free budget for FY23 which mentions free laptops for students of grade 11 and 12 in government and aided schools and free house site pattas for freedom fighters in the union territory. In addition, the chief minister said that a National Law University would be established in Puducherry.
“Laptops would be distributed free of cost to students of standards 11 and 12 in government schools and government-aided schools in a phased manner,” the chief minister said. He further added that it was also proposed to re-implement the free bicycle scheme for students studying in grade 9 in government and government-aided schools.
Furthermore, the CM added that the size of the budget for the FY23 was Rs 10,696.61 crore and the Union Territory`s own revenue receipts were estimated at Rs 6,557.23 crore while the Central assistance would be Rs 1,729.77 crore with an additional Rs 20 crore from the Central Road Fund and an allocation of Rs 500 crore under Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS).
According to Rangasamy, “the total outstanding debt of the Union Territory as on March 31, 2022 was Rs 9,859.20 crore.” “A major portion of our financial resources goes towards meeting committed expenditures such as salaries, pension, repayment of past loans and interest payments,” he added.
The CM further added that out of the budget estimate of Rs 10,696.61 crore for the fiscal 2022-23, a sum of Rs 2,312.77 crore would be allocated for salaries (constituting 21.62 %), Rs 1,122.32 crore for pension (10.49 %), Rs 2,311.61 crore for debt servicing (21.61 %) such as payment of loan and interest and Rs 1,440 crore for purchase of power (13.46 %).
“Other major expenditure of the government includes payment of old age pension (assistance to elderly citizens) and other welfare schemes to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore (13.09 %), grant in aid to society run higher education institutions, state public sector undertakings, local bodies and cooperative institutions to the extent of Rs 1,333.19 crore (12.46 %),” he added.
With inputs from PTI.
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