Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government will present its last but largest-ever populist and first-ever paperless budget on February 22 to dole out sops for farmers, women and youth with a focus on the Assembly elections due in first quarter of 2022.
The State Finance Minister Suresh Khanna said that the budget is likely to be near Rs 5.5 to 5.6 lakh crores. It will be the largest-ever budget by any government in the state. Last year, the Yogi government had presented a budget of over Rs 5.12 lakh crores.
The finance minister broadly hinted that the Legislators’ Fund (Vidhayak Nidhi), which was increased from Rs 2 to 3 crores last financial year but was withheld due to Covid-19 pandemic, will be released in the current budget, which is the fifth and last budget of the present government.
The budget session will begin on February 18 with Governor Anandiben Patel addressing the joint session of the State Legislature. All legislators have been asked to buy Apple iPads as it will be the first paperless budget in the history of the State Legislature.
Covid-19 test has been made mandatory for all MLAs and MLCs. Entry will be given to only those legislators who produce Covid-19 negative reports.
The finance minister said that the focus of the budget would be mainly on agriculture, infrastructure, industrialisation (to increase employment opportunities for youth), education, women and child welfare.
Budgetary provisions are likely to be made for developing ancient Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Mathura cities to world standards and special packages for Bundelkhand, Eastern UP, and cleaning of Ganga and other prominent rivers of the state.
In its last budget, the Yogi Adityanath government's main focus will be on schemes and projects for the overall development of the state and its people to drumbeat and showcase his development plank during the Assembly 2022 polls.
