Uttarakhand govt sets aside ₹1,000 crore in budget for relief ops in Joshimath

The Uttarakhand government on Wednesday presented ₹77,407.08 crore budget for 2023-24, with a provision of ₹1,000 crore for relief measures in crisis-hit Joshimath.

State finance minister Premchand Aggarwal, who tabled the document in the state assembly, called it an inclusive budget which reaches out to the youth, farmers and women, and gives priority to the deprived.

The budget for 2023-34 is 18.02 % higher than the ₹65,571 crore which was announced in the 2022-23 budget estimates (BE). To be sure, the revised estimate (RE) numbers for 2022-23 show that the government will likely spend ₹67,753 crore in the current fiscal year.

“Making better healthcare facilities available to the common people is our priority. Uttarakhand is the first state in the country where every family enjoys the facility of cashless or free treatment under Atal Ayushman Yojana..,” he said.

An amount of ₹4,217 crore was allocated for medical and family welfare. While ₹10,459 was set aside for education, sports, youth welfare, and culture, ₹302 crore was provisioned for tourism.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the budget will help realise the vision of building a new and strong Uttarakhand. “It is a historic and well-balanced budget. It addresses the aspirations of all sections of society, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mantra of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas. It’s a budget to make Uttarakhand a leading state,” he said.

State Congress chief Karan Mahara said the budget was “directionless and anti-development”. “It will rather dent the economic prospects of the state. There is nothing new in this Budget,” he said.