BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government led by CM Mohan Yadav presented its first interim budget (vote on account budget) on Monday, without proposing any new taxes or schemes.
Deputy CM and Finance Minister Jagdish Devda tabled the Rs 1.45 lakh crore-plus interim budget in the Assembly to fund various departments’ existing schemes for the period between April and July 2024. The first full-fledged budget will be presented in July.
The interim budget proposed Rs 11,674 crore for the school education department, Rs 9,588 crore for farmers welfare and agriculture development, followed by Rs 9,360 crore for the women and child development department, which manages the BJP’s “game changer” Rs 1,250 monthly CM Ladli Behana Scheme for the financially weak women.
Also on the list of proposed expenditure was the panchayati raj and rural development department for which Rs 5,100 crore was proposed. A sum of Rs 4287 crore was proposed for the tribal welfare followed by Rs 3,132 crore for the PWD department.
The interim budget proposed Rs 5,417 crore for the public health and family welfare department, Rs 514 crore for the backward class and minority welfare and Rs 787 crore for the Scheduled Caste welfare.
While presenting the interim budget, the finance minister said the interim budget is meant to meet the expenditure of the four months period (April to July) keeping in mind interests of all sections. No new tax or schemes have been proposed in it, as the full-fledged budget will be presented in July 2024.
Speaking about the budget and the future course of his government, CM Mohan Yadav said, “Our Sankalp Patra for the recent assembly polls wasn’t just a piece of paper for us, but is like a sacred religious scripture to us, which will be fulfilled totally. We’ll work on starting helicopter services to connect religious spots, including Indore to Mahakaleshwar, Indore to Omkareshwar, Gwalior to Orchha and Gwalior to Datia.” Making light of the interim budget, former CM and senior Congress MLA Kamal Nath posted on social media platform X, “The Vote on Account budget presented in the Vidhan Sabha has ended up becoming just a financial formality and nothing else.