The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday allocated ₹1,200 crore for a scheme for girls and ₹612 crore for stray cattle and construction of cow shelters in its budget for 2019-20 financial year ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The Yogi Adityanath government presented a ₹4.79 lakh crore budget, which is 12% higher than ₹4,28,384.52 crore earmarked for the current financial year ending March 2019.
After the presentation of his government’s third budget, Mr. Adityanath said it is the biggest one in the history of Uttar Pradesh.
“The budget should be ‘lok kalyankari’ (welfare-oriented) rather than ‘lok lubhawan’ (populist),” he said even as the Opposition parties described it as a “populist budget”.
In his speech, punctuated with Urdu couplets, State Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal announced new schemes worth ₹21,212.95 crore, including the ‘Kanya Sumangala Yojana’ to improve health and educational facilities for girls and bring in a positive change in the thinking towards women.
An allocation of ₹612.6 crore has been made for maintenance of stray cattle and constructing “gaushalas” (cowsheds). The announcement comes against the backdrop of reports claiming that farmers are locking up bovines in schools and public health centres following instances of stray cattle damaging crops.
Scheme for minorities
The government would provide ₹942 crore towards scholarship scheme for students belonging to minority communities and ₹459 crore proposed for modernisation of Arabi-Farsi madrasas.
Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Uttar Pradesh government has earmarked ₹3,194 crore for construction of expressways and₹13,135 crore for laying of roads in the State. It has also allocated ₹3,522 crore for the maintenance of roads and expressways by the Public Works Department.
A budgetary provision of ₹2,100 crore would be made for construction and maintenance of bridges apart from ₹850 crore to connect the villages and settlements through concrete link roads under various schemes. Also, ₹1,174 crore would be earmarked for widening and strengthening of important roads on the inter-State and international border.
Another ₹500 crore would be provided for acquiring land to develop defence corridor along with Bundelkhand Expressway and ₹100 crore allocated for strengthening of the proposed Agra-Lucknow entry-controlled 6-lane expressway project.
Ayodhya development
Allocations have been made for development of Ayodhya, including ₹200 crore for an airport and ₹101 crore for the development of tourist spots in the city.
Mr. Agarwal said Shri Kashi Vishwanath Special Area Development Board has been set up to ensure implementation of Shri Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Expansion Scheme in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said ₹207 crore has been pegged for the expansion and beautification of the road from the Ganga bank to Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.
The Opposition parties lashed out at the government for presenting a “populist” budget.
“However populist the budget might be in an election year, the works all through the year relating to people’s welfare and interest and control over law and order are important for the common people,” BSP president Mayawati said in a tweet.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the budget is a betrayal of the people in the name of “Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikas”.
Congress spokesman Ashok Singh said the budget was aimed at befooling the people of the State.
