With a Budget that would “appease all and satisfy none,” Uttarakhand Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh presented the Budget for the fiscal year 2015-16 in the State Assembly, on Monday. Hridayesh proposed no new taxes in the Budget.
The Budget estimated the total expenditure for 2015-16 to be Rs. 32,693.64 crore as against Rs. 30,353.78 crore in the previous fiscal year.
In the Budget estimates, the fiscal deficit has been estimated to Rs. 4,101.78 crore, which is 2.63 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
‘Surplus budget’
Describing the Budget as a “surplus Budget,” Chief Minister Harish Rawat said it touched all sectors and areas across the State including agriculture, health, drinking water, and tourism.
The Budget’s main thrust is upon women, senior citizens, tourism, sector, State aandolankaris, education, and addressing migration from the villages across the State.
Ms. Hridayesh has, in the Budget, proposed that a working group would be formed “to study the feasibility of Metro like projects connecting Dehradun- Rishikesh-Haridwar and Kathgodam-Haldwani-Lalk uan -Rudrapur.”
Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Ajay Bhatt said: “The Budget seems to be repetitive of the previous Budgets as it presents nothing new for Uttarakhand.”
