Odisha Council of Ministers approve budget for 2018-19

Bhubaneswar: A budget of Rs 1.20 lakh crores for the financial year 2018-19 was approved in a meeting of the State Council of Ministers on Wednesday with an emphasis given agriculture and infrastructure development sectors in rural pockets.

Sources said the pro-poor budget has been made keeping in view the 2019 elections as government has tried to accommodate a number of welfare schemes for addressing the farmers' agitation, chit fund affected investors and others.

The Budget Session of Odisha Assembly will commence from March 20 and Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera will present the annual budget for the year 2018-19 on March 23, official sources said.

The State government had allocated Rs 1, 06,910 crore in the annual budget for the year 2017-18 while  Rs 9,828 crore had been allocated in the Supplementary budget in the last financial year.