Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari on Saturday presented the annual budget estimates for the financial year 2022-23 in the State Assembly with an outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore.
Total Programme Expenditure outlay for the financial year 2022-23 will be Rs 1,00,000 crore, which constitutes 50 percent of the budget size. In addition, Rs 10,000 crore will be spent through off-budget sources and by Public Sector Undertakings.
The outlay is proposed to be financed mainly through revenue receipts of Rs 1,63,967 crore and borrowing and other receipts of Rs 36,033 crore.
Total revenue receipts for the year 2022-23 include State’s share in Central Taxes for Rs.36,978 crore, State’s Own Tax revenue for Rs.46,000 crore, Own Non-tax revenue for Rs.48,200 crore and grants from Centre for Rs.32,789 crore.
A total sum of Rs.12,624 crore has been proposed for public health care, which is an increase of about 25% over previous year’s provision out of which Rs.2,664 crore has been earmarked for Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana.
A sum of Rs 27,324 crore has been allocated for the education and skill development sector while Rs.646 crore has been proposed under Mo School Abhiyan and Rs 100 crore under High School Transformation programme.
Similarly, Rs.3,581 crore has been allocated for Samagra Sikhya, and Rs.851 crore for Mid-day Meal Scheme. In addition, Rs.90 crore has also been provided as State support for the Mid-day meals to meet the cooking cost.
The State government will spend Rs 1,500 crore in phases in three years to transform the infrastructure and human resources development of the Odisha University of Technology & Research (OUTR).
Similarly, Rs.14,454 crore will be spent during the year 2022-23 for construction and improvement of roads in the State. Apart from that around Rs.2,970 crore will be utilized for maintenance of the existing roads.
An allocation of Rs 1874 has been made for the Kalia scheme while Rs 161 crore has been proposed for agriculture research and education and Rs 968 crore for control of floods.
A budgetary allocation of Rs.312 crore has been proposed under Horticulture Development Programme to stimulate an array of activities for the promotion of horticultural crops and holistic growth of the horticulture sector. Similarly, Rs.122 crore is earmarked for National Horticulture Mission. Rs.432 crore is proposed towards subsidy for capital investment for the establishment of commercial agri-enterprises & for popularization of agricultural implements and diesel pump sets.
An allocation of Rs.25 crore has been proposed to support Farmers’ Producers Organisations (FPOs) in the production, aggregation, storage, processing, distribution, and marketing of agriculture and allied sector resources for sustainable development.
As far as the irrigation is concerned, 16 new Instream Storage Structures (ISS) are proposed during 2022- 23 with budget allocation of Rs.1,044 crore . In addition to that major and medium irrigation projects, namely – Sandul, Kusumi, Sono, Turi-guntat will be taken up to bring more areas under irrigation coverage.
A sum of Rs.2,493 crore has been proposed for completion of AIBP Projects implemented through Pradhan Mantry Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) and a sum of Rs.1,022 crore has been proposed under the State funded Water Sector Infrastructure Development Programme (WSIDP) scheme.
A provision of Rs.182 crore has been proposed for Intensive Aquaculture and Inland Fisheries Development. Input assistance will be provided to Women SHGs for taking up pisciculture in Grama Panchayat tanks over an area of 10,000 acres with a provision of Rs.38 Crore. Marine fishermen will be supported for alternative livelihood activities during fishing ban period with provision of Rs.21 crore during 2022-23.
Moreover, Rs.102 crore has been proposed under Poultry Development scheme to provide support for setting up of new broiler farm units, layer poultry farms in cage system, duck farms, backyard poultry units, mini poultry feed units and small scale poultry hatches during 2022-23.
Hailing the budget, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik termed it as progressive, pro-poor and development oriented budget.
Priority of the Budget is to create quality healthcare facilities, quality education including school transformation, life and livelihoods, women empowerment as well as infrastructure development, Patnaik said.
“The capital spending will increase by more than 56%, which will foster growth. A separate budget for Mission Shakti with allocation of Rs 2000 crore will further deepen our engagement with 70 lakh women of our State,” he said.
Praising the budget, he further said, “Our initiative to create a “Budget Stabilization Fund” will help in mitigating any revenue shock in future. The budget is in line with our transformational agenda under “5T” and “Mo Sarkar”. I hope this budget will meet the aspiration of the people of the State.”