The Yogi Adityanath led government made big-budget announcements for cow welfare in the state. (PTI Photo)The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government Thursday presented its annual budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 with a focus on infrastructure, cow welfare and development of religious places.
The UP government proposed Rs 247.60 crore for maintenance and construction of gaushalas in rural areas while Rs 200 crore has been sanctioned for Kanha gaushala and destitute cattle shelter scheme in urban areas. The government also imposed a special cess on liquor sales in the state, of which nearly Rs 165 crore will be utilised for the maintenance of destitute cattle-heads of the state. The government also kept aside Rs 64 crore for the Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyay Small Dairy Scheme.
For the implementation of the Deendayal Upadhyaya Small Dairy Scheme, a provision of Rs 64 crore has been made to set up 10,000 units.
A budgetary provision of Rs 56 crore has been made for the establishment of a new dairy in Mathura and Rs 5 crore has been allocated for 2019-20 for various programmes under the Uttar Pradesh Dairy Policy, 2018.
A proposal of Rs 93 crore is there for strengthening, restructuring and expansion of milk unions and societies, training, technical inputs, cattle breeding and health schemes.
On the infrastructural front, the UP government dished out Rs 3,194 crore for the construction of expressways. Provision of Rs 1,194 crore has been made for Purvanchal Expressway while Rs 1,000 crore have been sanctioned for Bundelkhand Expressway and Gorakhpur Link Expressway each. Around Rs 500 crore has been allocated for land acquisition to develop a defence corridor along with the Bundelkhand Expressway. The government also allocated Rs 800 crore to acquire land for Jewar Airport; Rs 200 crore was allocated for the construction of an airport in Ayodhya.
The UP government proposed Rs 207 crore for expansion and beautification of the road from the Ganga bank to the Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, and Rs 101 crore for the integrated development of major tourist places in Ayodhya. Provision of Rs 1 crore has been made to strengthen the Vrindavan Shodh Sansthan and Rs 125 crore for infrastructure facilities in Uttar Pradesh’s Brij Tirtha.
Besides, a budgetary provision of Rs 16 crore has been made to set up the Vaidik Vigyan Kendra at the Kashi Hindu Vishwavidyalaya in Varanasi, according to budget documents.
For minority welfare, a provision of Rs 942 crore under the Scholarship Scheme for students belonging to minority communities has been made and Rs 459 crore proposed for modernisation of Arabi-Farsi Madarsas. The budget also proposes Rs 100 crore for the development of cremation grounds in rural areas of the state.
On agriculture, the government has provisioned Rs 892 crore for the National Agriculture Development Scheme and Rs 450 crore for National Crop Insurance Programme. For expanding the market for agri products, the government would develop 500 markets in the rural areas at a cost of 150 crore through Mandi Parishad.
For rural development, the UP government allocated Rs 6,240 crore under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) and Rs 3,488 crore for implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. A provision of Rs 3,000 crore has been made for piped drinking water scheme in Bundelkhand, Vindhya region and other villages affected by low-quality water.
The government allocated Rs 1,200 crore to the proposed new scheme called the Kanya Sumangala Yojna to raise the health and education standard of girls. Overall, Rs 4,004 crores have been allocated for the nutrition programme. A provision of Rs 1,410 crore has been made in the budget for the sustenance of destitute widows and education of their children. A budgetary provision of Rs 335 crore for the National Nutrition Mission and another Rs 200 crore for Shabari Sankalp Abhiyan.
To promote the Sanskrit language, a budgetary provision of Rs 242 crore has also been made to provide grant-in-aid to Sanskrit ‘pathshalas’. Another Rs 30 crore has been earmarked as grant to aided Sanskrit schools and degree colleges.
This year’s budget saw a hike of 12 per cent as compared to last year due to the introduction of new schemes worth Rs 21,212.95 crore.
