Tripura govt placed Rs 27,654-crore deficit budget with no new tax proposal

Amidst massive uproar by the opposition parties, the Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy on Friday tabled an Rs 27,654-crore deficit budget for the current fiscal with no new tax proposals.

Which included a health insurance scheme to cover the marginalized sections of society and another scheme to give free scooters to meritorious girl students as part of a Rs 27,654-crore budget.

Singha Roy proposed to introduce the CM Jan Arogya Yojana-2023, a health insurance plan, on the lines of the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the central government.

The CM-JAY will cover the remaining 4.75 lakh families (those who are not covered by Ayushman Bharat) and provide insurance benefits of up to Rs 5 lakh per annum per family and the state government employees will also be covered under the plan for which the government will spend about Rs 589 crore per annum.

Finance Minister proposed to introduce the “Mukhyamantri Konya Atmanirbhor Yojana” to provide free scooters to 100 girl toppers of class 12 to motivate them for higher education.

Presenting the budget on the first day of the Monsoon session, Singha said the state's economy is likely to grow at 8 per cent. He said the capital expenditure is projected at Rs 5,358.70 crore, an increase of 22.28 per cent compared to last year's outlay. A deficit of Rs 611.30 crore was estimated in the budget, he said.

The minister also proposed to develop a tourism and cultural promotion hub in Agartala under North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) with an estimated cost of Rs 35 crore.

He informed the House that the government is aiming massive infrastructure development with the help of Asian Development Bank in six districts with an investment of Rs 1,200 crore.