UP Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna On Wednesday presented a Rs 6.9 Lakh crore budget -- the BJP government's seventh state budget since 2017. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has termed this the budget for 'Naya Uttar Pradesh' saying that this will add new golden chapters in the history of socioeconomic and cultural development of the state.
"I am happy to inform that in the year 2021-2022, a growth of 16.8 per cent was recorded in the state's Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), which was more than the country's growth rate," Khanna said in opening remarks.
The UP Budget was mainly focused on infrastructure development, welfare of farmers and women empowerment.
The Finance Minister alloted Rs 21,159 crore for construction of roads and bridges while Rs 6,209 crore has been kept for maintenance. Rs 12,631 crore has been earmarked for various programmes under National Rural Health Mission.
A provision of Rs 7,248 crore was proposed for old age and farmer pension scheme. FM Khanna also announced Rs 1,120 crore for Divyang Pension Yojana.
In a series of tweets, Adityanath said, "The budget of 'New Uttar Pradesh', which is going to be presented today in the first year of the Amrit Kaal of Independence, will add new golden chapters in the history of social, economic and cultural development of the state."
"Undoubtedly, this budget will fulfill the interests of every section of the society including villages, poor, farmers, youth and women of the state in line with the vision of the respected Prime Minister," he said in another tweet in Hindi.
Earlier, the budget was passed in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The finance minister had told reporters that it would be the biggest budget in the history of Uttar Pradesh.
Last year, the state government presented an annual budget of Rs 6.15 lakh crore for 2022-23. A supplementary budget for Rs 33,769.55 crore was presented in December 2022, taking the total size of the budget to about Rs 6.50 lakh crore.