Odisha govt presents Rs 2.65 lakh crore budget

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday presented a Rs 2.65 lakh crore budget for the 2024-25 fiscal in

the State Assembly with a focus on agriculture and irrigation. The size of the budget for the current financial year was around 15 per cent more than the budgetary estimate of Rs 2.30 lakh crore for the 2023-24 fiscal, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said.

Majhi, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented the BJP government’s maiden budget and proposed an outlay of Rs 33,919 crore for agriculture, which is about 36 per cent more than the allocation made in the previous year.

Of the total budget estimates, programme expenditure was pegged at Rs 1.55 lakh crore, administrative expenditure proposed at Rs 97,725 crore and an outlay of Rs 3,900 crore for Disaster Risk Management Funds, he said.

To ensure the speedy empowerment of women, as promised by the BJP in its election manifesto, Majhi proposed an outlay of

Rs 10,000 crore for the ‘Subhadra’ scheme, a financial assistance programme for women.

The Chief Minister allocated Rs 5,000 crore for “Samrudha Krushak Yojana” for farmers. He also proposed a new scheme ‘CM Kisan’ for farmers with an outlay of Rs 1,935 crore in the State budget.

The government has taken suggestions from various stakeholders before preparing the document, Majhi said, adding that it is a “people’s budget”.

“As many as 12,000 people were consulted in the last few days to prepare the annual budget,” he said. Apart from agriculture, the Chief Minister said the focus was on the industries, health, education and service sectors. Development for farmers, women, youth and poor people has been “prioritised”, and the government will fulfil the aspirations of the people.

He said the objective of the BJP government was to ensure an inclusive development of the State.