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Boost for welfare schemes in TN

10L houses for poor to be constructed
Last Updated 21 July 2016, 19:52 IST
The AIADMK government, which retained power in the recent Assembly polls, presented budget with no new taxes on Thursday. The government allocated more funds for several welfare schemes even as the state's debt stood at Rs 2.52 lakh crore at the end of the current fiscal.

The government has proposed to construct 10 lakh houses for poor people, distribution of laptops to 5.35 lakh students, buying of new buses and huge allocations for the energy sector.

In addition, a total of Rs 355 crore has been provided for poverty reduction schemes, besides allocating Rs 150 crore to impart skill development training for two lakh youth in the state.

While presenting the budget in the House, Finance Minister O Panneerselvam also announced that a World Bank-funded Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) will be implemented at an outlay of Rs 745.49 crore.

On the energy sector, a total 13,000 MW of thermal power, 2,500 MW of hydel power and 3,000 MW of solar power will be added to the existing generation capacity in the next five years.

According to him, the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) has also agreed to fund the second phase of the Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Programme (TNIPP) with an outlay of Rs 1,560 crore to improve the investment environment. "This government is also in the process of developing the Ponneri Industrial Node as a National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor Project," the minister said. Panneerselvam said taking into account the state government's decision to close down 500 liquor shops, the excise duty collection for the current financial year has been scaled down to Rs 6,636.08 crore.  "In spite of constraints on revenue receipts, the overall fiscal deficit, net borrowings and outstanding debt-GSDP ratio will be within the permissible limits, except the Fiscal Deficit during 2017-2018," he said.
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(Published 21 July 2016, 19:51 IST)

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