Odisha Assembly Budget Session’s Phase II Begins Today

Bhubaneswar: The second phase of the Budget Session of the Odisha Assembly begins today. This phase of the session will focus on the presentation of the Budget of various departments and the approval of expenditures.

As per the schedule, the expenditure of various departments will be presented in the House from March 13 to 29. On March 31, the Bill for approval of expenditure will be presented in the House.

In the first phase, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari announced several new initiatives with budgetary allocation while presenting the annual budget for 2023-24 in the state assembly.

An amount of Rs 2000 crore has been proposed for the revolving fund for paddy procurement while Rs 750 crore will be spent under Mo Hospital.

Other new initiatives include Rs 139 crore for 139 Chief Minister’s Awards for Education, Rs 811 crore for Mukhyamantri Medhabi Chatra Protsahan, Rs 120 crore for Mukhyamantri Janajati Jeebika Mission, Rs 150 crore for Mukhyamantri Disaster Resilient Saline Embankment, Rs 100 crore for Location Accessible Multimodal Initiatives (LACCMI), Rs 150 crore for Ama Bus Stand, Rs 50 crore for Mukhyamantri Kendu Leaf Welfare Fund, Rs 100 crore for Promotion of Entrepreneurship for women self help groups ( SHGs), Rs 126 crore for Coffee Mission, Rs 250 crore for Chief Minister’s Energy Conservation Programme, Rs 1446 crore for Chief Minister’s Power Development Programme, Rs 100 crore for International Air Connectivity, Rs 50 crore for Odisha Renewable Energy Development Fund, Rs 210 crore for Mukhyamantri Maschya Jibi Kalyan Yojana, Rs 250 crore for Mukhyamantri Sampoorna Pushti Yojana, Rs 250 crore for Building for Van Surakshya Samiti, Rs 100 crore for NUA Odisha (Nutana Unnata Abhilasha) and Rs 50 crore for Mission Shakti Scooter Yojana.

Pujari presented the highest-ever state budget of Rs 2.3 lakh crore for 2023-24 fiscal. The total budget outlay is 15 % higher than the budget for the current financial year 2022-23.

In the financial year 2023-24, a major chunk of the State Government’s total resources is estimated to be generated through the State’s own tax and own non-tax revenue. Rs 53,000 crore is projected to come from its own tax revenue and Rs 52,500 crore from its own non-tax revenue. The state’s own revenue is estimated to contribute 46 % of the total resource.

In 2023-24, the highest resource allocation is in the Panchayati Raj Department (11.01 %) followed by the School and Mass Education Department (9.79%), Health & Family Welfare (6.85 %), Planning and Convergence (5.70 %), and Water Resources (4.68 %).