By Our Political Affairs Bureau
BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Finance Minister Nirajan Pujari was on Tuesday presented a Budget, which was being coined as ‘Green Budget’ worth Rs 1.50 lakh crore in State Assembly. The paperless Budget planned under 5T imitative saved 1,000 trees as 75 lakhs pages were reduced.
All MLAs were handed over iPads with pen drive containing budget documents after which the State Finance Minister read out his budget speech from an iPad at the Odisha Assembly. He said: Of the total budgetary allocation,
Rs,65,655 crore has been proposed for Administrative expenditure, Rs 74,000 crore for Programme expenditure, Rs 3,200 crore for Disaster Response and Rs.7,145 crore for transfer of local bodies and development authorities. Besides, the budget also proposes to invest about Rs,6,500 crore from off-budget resources like OMBADC, DMF, State PSUs etc. to supplement the budgetary outlay.
The capital outlay in 2020-21 is Rs.26,513 crore, which is about 4.5 per cent of GSDP. Additionally, loans and advances, grants for creation of capital assets and other expenditure for capital formation together account for Rs,10,000 crore, which is 1,7 per cent of GSDP.
Financing the Annual Budget, 2020-21
The outlay is proposed to be financed mainly through revenue receipts of Rs,1,24,300 crore and borrowing and other receipts of Rs.25,700 crore. The fiscal deficit is estimated to be 3 per cent of GSDP for the year 2020-21.
The total revenue receipts for the year 2020-21 include States Own tax for Rs.38,350 crore, Own Non-tax revenue of Rs 17,650 crore, State’s share in central taxes for Rs 36,300 crore and grants from Centre tot Rs.32,000 crore.
Under the visionary leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, we have given a stable government with a steadily growing economy, record reduction in poverty, doubling the farmer’s income, bringing Odisha into prominence in Sports and Tourism atlas of the world and making Odisha the most favoured destination for investment in India. Now, the stage is set to think big and aspire for a New Odisha – Empowered Odisha, through a transformative agenda. This budget, therefore, focuses on the creation of world-class infrastructure, transformative healthcare facilities & education services, robust eco-system for skills, sports, tourism, culture, industries, MSMEs etc.
Puri, the abode of the presiding deity Lord Jagannath, attracts millions of devotees and tourists from all over the World. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has approved the mega plan to transform Puri into a World Heritage City with projects like Shree Setu, Jagannath Ballav Pilgrim Centre, Multilevel Car Parking, Redevelopment of Municipal Market, beachfront vending zone, redevelopment of Swargadwar with a total investment plan of Rs.3208 crore under the ABADHA Scheme. We are thankful to the people of Puri for their cooperation due to which land acquisition for Puri Heritage Corridor has been completed in record four months’ time. I propose to provide Rs.695 crore in 2020-21 for ABADHA scheme.
‘Ekamra Kshetra Amenities and Monuments Revival Action (EKAMRA) Plan’, is another transformational initiative of Chief Minister which intends to pedestrianize more than 65 Acres around the Lingaraj temple. The State Government has worked out a total investment of about Rs,700 crore for the comprehensive EKAMRA Plan and an allocation of Rs.150 crore is proposed for the purpose in 2020-21.
Cuttack, the Millennium City of the State is witness to many historical events. We are going for a decongestion plan for Cuttack to enable the Millennium City to have wider roads, better accessibility, public spaces and utilities, parks, modern urban infrastructure, parking, greenery etc. We propose to develop 424 acres of land reclaimed on the Mahanadi riverfront and also convert the ring rood into six-lane. Further, we have also made provisions for overall development of Samaleswari Mandir, Hirakud Dam, Bhitarkanika, and other iconic sites having tourism potential.
Health
We have doubled the health sector budget to Rs 7,700 crore within 5 years. Universal Health Care is a commitment of CM, through our flagship scheme BSKY, assured free health services are provided to all the people from Sub-Centre to Medical Colleges. This is truly universal as this is available for everyone in the state. besides, over 70 lakh economically vulnerable families in the state are provided annual health coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family a Rs 10 lakh for the women members of the family. I propose an allocation of Rs 1,108 crore for this scheme.
For building health care infrastructure and services under the Mukhya Mantri Swasthya Seva Mission, I propose Rs 578 crore. A sum of Rs 1,652 crore has been provided for National Health Mission for health care services, ambulance as well as building infrastructure.
Tertiary health care facility is a critical requirement for our State. We propose to transform SCB Medical College and Hospital into a state-of-the-art world-class facility and into an AIIMS plus integrated medical institution with 3000 beds. We intend to invest more than Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years.360 crore is proposed in the “Nirmal Scheme” to improve the quality of sanitation and other services.
To ensure a competitive spirit for excellence among the public health professionals and institutions, our Government has decided to institute awards at the State level. We have provided Rs. 5 crore for the purpose,Our Government has created about 2000 additional posts of Doctors. 6000 posts of nurses and 2000 posts of other paramedics during the year 2019-20. The addition of such manpower along with outsourced services for health facilities (under NIRMAL scheme) will go a long way in transforming our health care institutions.
With a view to meet the demand of doctors in the public system and improve tertiary health care services, four new Medical Colleges are functional at Koraput, Baripada, Balasore and Bolangir. Besides, seven new Colleges at Puri, Jaipur, Keonjhar, Bhawanipatna, Sundargarh (by NTPC), Talcher (by MCL) and Kandhamal are in pipeline. An allocation of Rs.562 crore is earmarked for Medical colleges.
We propose to launch a new scheme Odisha Cardiac care (OCC) Programme to expand the services in other districts. Besides, in Jharsuguda, a Cardiac Care Unit is coming up in PPP mode with funding of Rs 75 crore from MCL. An outlay of about Rs.47 crore is provided for the ESI scheme and 220 new posts of doctors and paramedics have been created for ESI Hospitals at Bhubaneswar and Angul.
Education and Skill Development
Imparting quality education and providing employable skills has been our priority. We propose an allocation of Rs.22 631 crore for the sector. For Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya an amount of Rs.400 crore, for Samagra Sikshya Abhijan Rs.3,157 crore, for MDM Rs.800 crore and for LPG connections Rs.8 crore have been proposed. Rs.40 crore is proposed for our popular Mo School Programne, while Rs. 10 crore is proposed for Mo College Abhijan.
231 crore for Gangadhar Meher Sikhya Manakbrudhi Yojana (GMSMY) and Rs.277 crore for construction of a hostel for Tribal girls and urban hostel complexes have been proposed.
All students’ scholarships are credited through DBT under PRERANA – Portal for which an amount of Rs 1,407 crore is earmarked.
For “Odisha Higher Education Programme for Excellence and Equity (OHEPEE)” with financial assistance from World Bank an amount of Rs.130 crore is proposed while for Odia University at Satyabadi Rs.15 crore, for infrastructure development in Higher Education Rs.200 crore, for Laptop distribution Rs.45 crore and for RUSA Rs.220 crore is proposed along with Rs.49 crore for Merit Scholarship.
To take the skill development eco-system “Skilled-in-Odisha” to the level of a global brand, we are establishing a “World Skills Centre” in Bhubaneswar with assistance from, Asian Development Bank and for that Rs.220 crore has been provided and Rs.199 crore for ‘infrastructure development of Technological Universities and Engineering Colleges. Polytechnics and ITIs.
Drinking Water and Sanitation
One of the key Priorities is to provide Piped Water Supply to the entire population of the State. We aim at increasing coverage of piped water supply to 60 Percent of the rural population and 10 % of the urban population during 2020-21. We propose substantially higher outlay of Rs 3,250 crore for rural water supply and Rs 236 crore for urban water supply under BASUDHA scheme. Another Rs 2000 crore is proposed under Jal Jeevan Mission and Rs 560 crore for operation and maintenance of water supply system.
Further, all 691 directly affected villages in 8 mineral-bearing districts will be covered with piped water supply with an estimated cost of Rs 991 crore under OMBADC funds and Rs 1,538 crore worth projects under DMF, thus total investment in pipe water would be about Rs 8,000 crore.
As per the direction of Hon’ble Chief Minister, we are taking up the ‘Drink From Tap’ mission to improve quality of drinking water in all 114 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) along with 24X7 water supply as a 5T initiative. Under this initiative, we have taken up 9 pilot projects at Bhubaneswar and Puri. An allocation of Rs 100 crore is proposed.
We are going to establish 242 Micro Composting Centres in all ULBs. For inducing behavioural change pertaining to Solid Waste Management at the household level, women member of WSHGs called as “Swachh Sathis” have been engaged. I propose Rs 500 crore for the rural component of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Housing
Providing Shelter security is the commitment of our CM. A record 25 lakh Pucca Houses have been completed under Biju Pucca Ghar and other rural housing schemes. Rs 3,962 crore for coverage of PMAY Gramin and Biju Pucca Ghar, Rs 518 crore for urban housing has been proposed.
This year Odisha won the “World Habitat Award” and “India Geo Spatial Excellence Award”, global recognition for our ambitious initiative ” JAGA Mission” which is transforming lives of urban poor with land rights and other basic amenities.
Women and Child Development
As I have already informed the August House, we are bringing out a separate “Nutrition Budget” statement along with the Annual Budget, 2020-21. We have a total investment of Rs 5,210 crore for Nutrition Specific and Rs 23,754 crore for Nutrition Sensitive schemes in the Budget.
Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) is being implemented with the objective of improving the nutritional and health status of children below the age of 6 years as well as pregnant and lactating mothers. We propose to provide Rs 2,345 crore for the scheme.
It may be mentioned here that Odisha is the second State in the country to do so, the first being Himachal Pradesh which went for paperless budget presentation in 2015
