Suresh Khanna, Finance Minister of Uttar Pradesh presented the biggest state budget on Tuesday, 18 February 2020, since 2017 when the Yogi Adityanath-led government came into power.

The budget holds a total of Rs 5.12 lakh crore considering development of new infrastructural projects including building of Airports in Jewar and Ayodhya, constructing new expressways, building metro rail projects, creating employment opportunities for the youth and more.

While presenting the budget in the State Assembly, Khanna said that this year’s state budget is larger than that of last year and includes provisions for enhancing the state’s infrastructure, job creation and also new schemes worth Rs 10,967 crore, including Chief Minister’s Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (CMAPS) and Yuva Udhyamita Vikas Abhiyan (YUVA).

The total receipts that the budget estimates is of Rs 5,00,558 crore out of which Rs 4,22,567 crore came through revenue and Rs 77,990 crore through capital receipts. The numbers show a total deficit of Rs 12,302 crore which makes the state’s debt liability to be of 28.8 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Under the budget, the State Government has kept funds worth Rs 2,000 crore for the new greenfield airport project at Jewar and another sum of Rs 500 crore for the airport to built in Ayodhya.

Further, a sum of Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated for constructing the 637 km ‘Ganga Expressway’ connecting Meerut to Prayagraj which the state government says to be the longest in the country.

Considering expressways, a provision of Rs 400 crore has been made for Gorakhpur and Rs 200 crore for Ballia Link expressways which further connect them with Purvanchal expressway. However, an amount of Rs 750 crore has been allocated for Bundelkhand Expressway. Moreover, for the development of defence corridor along the Bundelkhand Expressway, a budget of Rs 150 crore has been allocated. Also, to develop an industrial corridor along the Gorakhpur Link Expressway a sum of Rs 200 crore has been set aside.

As far as Metro rail projects are concerned, for Kanpur the government has alloted a budget of Rs 358 crore and for developing metro infra in Agra Rs 286 crore has been set aside. Further, a sum of Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for metro rail projects in other cities.

The state has planned to turn Ayodhya in a pilgrim city as a tourist spot and has allocated a fund of Rs 85 crore for the same.

Talking about the creation of employment opportunities in his budget speech, Khanna said, “A provision of Rs 100 crore has been made under the CMAPS to impart on-job training to the youth of the state in MSME units and link them with the employment of definite period.”

The scheme will not only provide training programs to the youth but will also offer stipends, Khanna added. “Out of the total amount of stipend, Rs 1,500 will be borne by the Centre, Rs 1,000 by the state and the remaining amount by the industry concerned,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has allotted a sum of Rs 200 crore for the expansion and beautification of Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. An amount worth Rs 180 crore is planned for developing a cultural centre in the city.

Moreover, the government has also considered the construction of four lakh houses for the impoverished within a year in the budget.

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