There are no new tax proposals in the Rs 6,859.45-crore Tripura budget that was presented by the Finance Minister, Mr Badal Chowdhury, in the State Assembly today.

The total receipts projected for the fiscal year is Rs 6,612.87 crore, with a deficit of Rs 246.58 crore.

With no new taxes to boost the State coffers, Tripura is relying on bigger annual Plan outlay to fund the deficit.

Adequate funds have been provided for development activities and the Plan size has increased by about 21.3 per cent over revised estimate, said the Tripura Finance Minister, Mr Badal Chowdhury, in his budget speech.

Resource mobilisation

The budget deficit will be met by mobilising higher receipts from Central sources, compressing non-developmental expenditure, stepping up resource mobilisation, better tax enforcement and through austerity measures, Principal Commissioner (Finance), Mr Manoj Kumar, told reporters after the budget.

The annual Plan size for the next fiscal is Rs 1,810.48 crore, which is 21 per cent more than the plan outlay last year.

“Adequate state share for centrally sponsored schemes like NREGA, IAY and Bharat Nirman has been provided and employment generation will be increased through these development works,” he said.

Budget allocation for Education will be Rs 1,449.65 crore followed by Public Works at Rs 662.91 crore, Health and Family Welfare at Rs 274.51 crore, Tribal Welfare at Rs 212.40 crore and Agriculture at Rs 626.65 crore.

The budget also has a proposal to set up a general degree college and three polytechnic colleges in rural areas.

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