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Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy presented ₹8,425 crore tax free budget for the fiscal 2019-2020 in the Assembly on Wednesday amidst vociferous protests by the opposition.
As soon as the Chief Minister commenced the budget presentation, opposition AIADMK, AINRC and BJP MLAs rose in revolt and registered their protest against the government “failing to present a full fledged budget” ever since it came to power in 2016.
The opposition legislators led by the AIADMK leader A Anbalagan rushed towards the well of the House and continued their noisy protest by squatting on the floor, necessitating the Speaker VP Sivakolundhu to order the watch and ward staff to evict them.
On the funds to be made available for the budget, Narayanasamy said of ₹8,425 crore, the revenue the government would mobilise on its own will be ₹5,435 crore, while allocation by the Centre under Centrally sponsored schemes will be ₹1,890 crore.
The government will go in for open market borrowing for a sum of ₹1,100 crores, the Chief Minister said.
He noted that a total of 1.3 lakh families will be covered in the first instance under the Prime Ministers Ayush Insurance scheme in the Union Territory.
On the propriety of State Planning Board here, when Planning Commission had been replaced by NITI Aayog at the national level, Narayanasamy said the government will ascertain the necessity to continue to have the board.
“We are also considering a proposal to institute a Chief Minister’s Economic and Administrative Advisory Council as is in vogue in various States,” he said.
Referring to the achievements of various departments, he said the government will distribute 10 kg free rice instead of crediting cash equivalent to the families coming under ‘Yellow colour ration card’ system.
He said the State government did not want to impose tax burden on the people.
Narayanasamy asserted that despite all hurdles and administrative hardships, the government willaugment the locally available resources and procure additional allocations from the Centre on par with what is available in full fledged States.
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