The Haryana government on Friday presented the budget for 2021-22 with an outlay of ?1,55,645 crore, focusing on health, agriculture and infrastructure.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal, who also holds the portfolio of Finance, while presenting the budget, said ?1,55,645 crore had been allocated for 2021-22, an increase of 13% over revised estimate (RE) 2020-21 of ?1,37,738 crore.
“The budget outlay comprises 25% as capital expenditure of ?38,718 crore and 75% as revenue expenditure of ?1,16,927 crore,” he said.
The budget had been prepared amid the unprecedented global crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and challenges being faced as never before. “Health of our people has been accorded top priority and reiterating the same, ?7,731 crore has been allocated in 2021-22, which is an increase of 20.2% over the RE 2020-21 outlay of ?6,433 crore,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the government had identified health, agriculture and infrastructure as key priority areas that needed to be focussed to arrest the contraction in economy and take a path of resurgence.
He said the government was committed towards realising the national goal of making agriculture futuristic and doubling the income of farmers. “An amount of ?6,110 crore has been allocated for the year 2021-22, an increase of 20.9% against the RE 2020-21 of ?5,052 crore,” Mr. Lal said. He added that the Directorate of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, in 2021-22 fiscal, would work towards strengthening Haryana’s presence in five major focus areas — aerospace and defence, toy industry, services sector, construction and industrial parks.
Mr. Lal said the government would bring in a comprehensive legislation in the Vidhan Sabha for the long-term implementation of the ‘Parivar Pehchan Patra’ (PPP) programme.
‘A disappointment’
However, the Congress termed the Budget a sheer disappointment. Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja said people had high expectations from this Budget, but it had nothing for the people of Haryana.
Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed concern over the deteriorating financial health and said the State was being pushed towards insolvency.
“The financial situation of the State has become very fragile today due to the policies of the government. The government has barely 5% budget left for developmental works after paying loans, interest, salaries and allowances to employees. That is why there is a question mark on the announcements being made by the government. How will the announcements be completed without adequate financial resources,” he questioned.
“The BJP government is pushing the State in debt and is taking Haryana towards bankruptcy and that is why the debt figures were not clearly stated in the budget speech this time. Apparently the government is hesitating to expose its failure. It is estimated that the total debt on the State has increased to ?2.25 lakh crore and every child in Haryana is born with a loan of ?1 lakh on its head,” said Mr. Hooda.
Source: The Hindu