Siddaramaiah presents Rs1.82 trillion Karnataka budget

www.mangaloretoday.com

Bengaluru, March 15, 2017: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday presented a Rs1.82 trillion budget for 2017-18, up 12.44% when compared to nearly Rs1.62 trillion last year.

Siddaramaiah presented the budget with high double-digit outlay for almost all sectors including agriculture, social and backward classes welfare and water resources, ahead of the polls next year.

Siddaramaiah, who had earlier supported the Centre’s demonetisation decision, said that the cooperative sector had come to a standstill. “While the need for demonetisation itself is debatable, I think that the Union government and Reserve Bank of India could have at least foreseen the exigencies and could have put in practical and robust systems in place to insulate the common man from these hardships,” he said.

The budget estimates envisage revenue receipts of Rs1.44 trillion and capital receipts of Rs37,227 crore, the chief minister said on Wednesday. However, Siddaramaiah did not heed to demands by opposition parties and farming communities that have demanded a loan waiver as the state is facing its second consecutive drought due to deficient rains.

The Siddaramaiah led-Congress government in the state announced Rs5,080 crore for the agriculture department, up 16% from Rs4,344 crore last year.

The government announced the extension of payments in long- and short-term loans to cooperative societies by one year in which an interest subsidy of Rs45 crore was paid by the government on behalf of 2 lakh farmers.

The due date for all kinds of agricultural loans outstanding as on 30 September 2015 was extended to 31 March. “Due to this, benefit of Rs125 crore as interest waiver will be available to 74,525 farmers,” Siddaramaiah said.

The government announced an allocation of Rs15,929 crore to the water resources department for modernisation, completion and undertaking of drinking water, drip and canal irrigation in several parts of the state. Allocation for the social welfare department and backward classes welfare (combined) was up almost 20% to Rs9,517 crore from Rs7,967 crore last year.

Food and civil supplies department allocation was Rs3,636 crore, up 73.47% from Rs2,096 crore last year.

Bengaluru accounts for the highest allocation of the Rs18,127 crore to the urban development department with key infrastructure projects like Bangalore Metro, major road works and urban housing projects, among others.

However, the Information Technology, Bio-technology, Science & Technology department managed only Rs299 crore, slightly up from Rs222 crore last year.

Siddaramaiah also proposed to implement uniform admission fee policy in all cinema theatres, including multiplexes, by prescribing Rs200 as maximum admission fee.