The Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party government on Friday presented a ₹3.32 lakh crore budget that imposed no new taxes while providing a little relief of around ₹55 crore in the stamp duty.
On the second day of the budget session of the State Assembly, Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai presented the budget in which he made a series of new announcements including converting seven municipalities into municipal corporations and a special scholarship scheme for girls studying in secondary and higher secondary schools with outlay of ₹1,250 crore.
Desai informed the House that the budget outlay of ₹3,32,465 crore for 2024-25 indicates an increase of ₹31,444 crore, or 10.44% over the previous fiscal.
The State government presented the budget with an estimated surplus of ₹146.72 crore and proposed no new taxes and stated that budgetary outlays for welfare schemes, education, and healthcare have been increased.
In his budgetary address, Desai announced a host of schemes and projects and said the state government kept GYAN – ‘Garib’ (the poor), ‘Yuva’ (youth), ‘Annadata’ (farmer) and ‘Nari Shakti’ (women power) – at the core while preparing the budget.
Under the newly proposed ‘Namo Lakshmi’ scheme, girls studying in government, aided, and private schools from Classes 9 to 12 will be given ₹50,000 over the four years of their education. A provision of ₹1,250 crore has been made in the budget for this programme.
Under the ‘Namo Shri’ scheme, pregnant women belonging to backward and poor sections will be provided assistance of ₹12,000 and a provision of ₹750 crore has been made in the budget.
The Finance Minister also announced the conversion of seven municipalities – Navsari, Gandhidham, Morbi, Vapi, Anand, Mehsana, and Surendranagar-Wadhwan – into municipal corporations.
He also announced the ‘Jan Rakshak’ scheme wherein all the emergency services, including police and fire brigade, can be accessed centrally by dialling 112.
The State budget also provides for the extension of the existing riverfront on Sabarmati till GIFT-City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) in Gandhinagar in Phases 4 and 5.
While no new taxes were proposed, the State government has proposed to give citizens a relief of ₹754 crore by easing some provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act and stamp duty.
As per the department wise funds, ₹55,114 crore for education, ₹20,100 crore for health and family welfare, ₹6,885 crore for women and child development, ₹12,138 crore for panchayat; rural housing and rural development, ₹21,696 crore for urban development and urban housing, and ₹8,423 crore for energy and petrochemical department.
For the infrastructure sector, ₹22,153 crore has been earmarked for the road and building department, and ₹3,858 crore for ports and logistics.
