Gujarat govt presents Rs 3.01L cr budget

Gujarat on Friday presented a Rs 3.01-lakh crore budgetary outlay for the fiscal year 2023-24, an increase of about Rs 57,000 crore or 23.38 per cent over last year's budget.

Apart from pledging to invest in infrastructure development to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crore in the next five years, the government announced a special provision of Rs 500 crore for providing two cooking gas cylinders free of cost every year to 39 lakh families under Ujjwala Yojna. Several states including Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have also made similar provisions in their budgets presented recently.

Presenting the first budget since BJP's historic win in December 2022 Assembly polls, Finance Minister Kanu Desai announced an increase of the annual insurance limit from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for eligible families under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna.

The state has also pledged to start 400 "Gyan Setu" schools at a cost of Rs 64 crore and equip existing schools with 20,000 computer labs and build 50,000 new classrooms.

A budget of Rs 50 crore has been kept aside for "providing every year school vouchers of Rs 20,000 to new talented students who have completed study from standard 1 to 8 under RTE scheme so that they can pursue studies in private schools after Standard 8." The focus on bettering education infrastructure comes in wake of the Aam Aadmi Party highlighting the poor condition of schools in the state during the run-up to Assembly polls.

Another announcement was a budget of about Rs 550 crore for reconstruction and strengthening of old bridges in the state. This announcement came in view of the suspension bridge collapse in Morbi which killed 135 persons in October 2022. The high court has also ordered the state government to check conditions of all public bridges.

The state government, which is eyeing to host the 2036 Olympics, has also announced setting up sports complexes in each district and taluka levels.

The state has allocated over Rs 43,000 crore for education, Rs 21,000 crore for agriculture, Rs 20,000 crore for road and building department, Rs 15,000 crore for health and family welfare and Rs 9,000 crore for urban housing.