AGARTALA: Tripura deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma, who also holds the finance portfolio, on Thursday, presented Rs 26,893 crore budget estimates for the fiscal year 2022-23 with a deficit of Rs 569.52 crore.
No new tax has been introduced but the allocated funds for each sector had been substantially increased.
The overall increase in absolute amounts is Rs 4168 crore.
The Tripura deputy CM laid emphasis on key issues like the government’s intention to increase the allocations for social welfare and livelihood opportunities.
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Adequate importance is being given to sectors like education, livestock rearing and encouraging investment.
The Tripura deputy CM said the capital expenditure has been doubled to Rs 5285 crore in Budget estimates of 2022-23, compared to Rs 2651 crore in 2021-22 to ensure government expenditure in infrastructure that will help the local economy to thrive.
The state’s GSDP is projected to grow at about 13.28% in FY 2022-23 at constant prices.
In the education sector of Tripura, Rs 5026 crore has been earmarked with a sharp increase of 20.66% in 2022-23 against previous year.
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In the health sector, a 23 percent increase is recorded with Rs 1777 crore.
The main motive being decentralization of the health sector and making sure healthcare is available in the village level, he added.
A new scheme— “Suvarna Jayanti Tripura Nirman Yojana” was announced with a proposal of Rs 1000 crore.
“An amount of Rs 1000 crore is proposed for the scheme. This project is a special infrastructure drive from the state government to celebrate the 50 years of statehood. The projects include- road, Sainik School, National Law University, Mahila Shashaktikaran Abhiyan, Mukhyamantri Cha Shramik Kalyan Prakalpa, Mukhyamantri Tripura Gram Samridhi Yojana, Agriculture Development Research-cum-Training Centres, Sports Infrastructure, Agar Trade Centre, Psychiatric Hospital, Rubber Mini Mission, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, etc”.
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Apart from that, the finance minister also said that the social pension for 3.81 lakh beneficiaries would be increased to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,000.
A committee will be constituted that will be chaired by the Chief Secretary of the state and as per the recommendations of the committee, the new pension payment system will come into being. “In all likelihood, people will receive pension on the revised system prior to Durga Puja”, said the finance minister.