The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Rajasthan Budget puts focus on bijli, sadak, paani and health; no big sop
PRESENTING THE first full Budget of the BJP government led by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma in Rajasthan, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Diya Kumari kept the focus on the essentials of ‘ bijli, sadak, paani’ and healthcare while avoiding any major sop. She also laid down the foundation of the government’s vision for the next five years as part of “Viksit Rajasthan @ 2047”.
As part of the 2047 vision, the Finance Minister announced 10 resolutions of the state government, including a $ 350- billion economy; focus on infrastructure development; quality of life; agriculture growth and farmers welfare among others. The focus, largely, was investing in basic infrastructure while upgrading and maintenance of the existing infrastructure facilities.
Kumari announced drinking water projects worth over ` 40,000 crore. This includes six major Jal Jeevan Mission ( JJM) projects worth ` 20,370 crore; ` 5,0 00 crore for 25 lakh rural households under the JJM; and additional drinking water works worth ` 5,180 crore for 183 cities and towns as part of AMRUT 2.0 scheme.
For energy, she announced work worth ` 2,25,000 crore to meet power demands up to 203132 and an action plan for essential energy production for next 10 years. She announced works related to production of 20,500
MW capacity from conventional sources of energy and 33,600MW from renewable energy sources up to 2031- 32. All government offices will also be given solar energy based electricity.
Under infrastructure, Kumari announced a 53,0 00- km road network in five years with an estimated expenditure of ` 60,000 crore. Additionally, she announced construction, upgradation, repair and maintenance works of state highways, bypass road and flyovers with an estimated expenditure of ` 9,0 00 crore; nine greenfield expressways of more than 2,750 km and repair and maintenance works of 1,343 damaged roads and bridges in two years at ` 644 crore.
For health, she announced projects worth ` 27,660 crore, which, she said, was 8.26 per cent of the Budget. She also announced the Mukhyamantri Ayushman Aarogya ( MAA) Yojana with new pediatric packages, among other things.
Other big- ticket announcements included 4 lakh recruitments in government jobs in five years, with an aim of over 1 lakh in the current year itself, of which 20,000 recruitments have already been completed. Overall, the aim is 10 lakh recruitments in five years, including those in the private sector.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who skipped the Assembly as he is recovering from
a slipped disc, termed the Budget “dull and directionless”. He said the Budget “does not seem to have anything to do with education, health and social security”.
“The lack of schemes now versus the work done by our government in these areas is clearly visible in the budget figures. This Budget has neither provided relief to the public nor has any roadmap for development,” Gehlot said.