BHUBANESWAR: In a departure from the usual practice, the state government is going to present the annual budget for 2017-18 financial year in a new form on Monday.
Finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat is set to present the budget worth nearly Rs 1.6 lakh crore, which is an increase of nearly 12,000 crore from the last financial year.
Though the details of the budget are being kept under wraps, sources said it will do away with provisions like non-plan, state plan, central plan and centrally sponsored plan.
The state government has divided the budget into four different components. While the salary and pension-related allocations will be made under the administrative expenditure head, funds for various schemes will be allocated under the head of programme expenditure.
As Odisha witnesses natural disasters like flood, cyclone and drought almost every year, a special contingency (disaster response fund) will be created to meet the expenditure during exigencies.
For transfer of fund to urban local bodies and panchayati raj institutions in accordance with the recommendations of the 4th state and 14th central finance commissions, there will be a special component called transfer from the state. There will be scheme-wise allocations instead of department-wise allocations.
"After observing the central budget, we did away with components like plan and non-plan. Sector specific provisions have been made in the budget. However, we will continue to have a separate budget for agriculture and the allied sectors," said the finance minister. As lack of basic infrastructure in the rural areas is believed to have led to the slide in BJD's seats in the panchayat polls, the state government is going to make adequate budgetary provisions for rural development. Keeping the 2019 assembly and general elections in mind, the government may also make budget provisions for new schemes, believe experts.
Other social sectors like agriculture, irrigation, health, education and rural electrification are likely to receive higher allocation, official sources said.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com