BHUBANESWAR: The six-day budget session of the Assembly will start from March 25 and continue till March 31. However, the State government will not place a full-fledged budget this time. A vote-on-account will be placed by the State government on March 30 for first four months of 2022-23 financial year.
Announcing the schedule, Speaker of the Assembly Surya Narayan Patro said that the session will start with the Governor’s address and a motion of thanks will be moved on the same day. Discussion on the Governor’s address will be held on March 26 and 28 as March 27 is a Sunday.
While Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari will present the vote-on-account on March 30, the Appropriation Bill will be passed on March 31, he said and added that March 29 has been kept reserved for official business.
Official sources maintained that the State government has decided to present a vote-on-account in view of the imposition of model code of conduct for panchayat polls and then for urban local body elections to be held on March 24. While the Finance department had prepared to present even a full-fledged budget, it was finally decided to go with the vote-on-account.
The State government had earlier presented vote-on-account in the Assembly in 2009, 2014 and 2019 because of general elections. The government had presented a budget of Rs 1.7 lakh crore for 2021-22. It is expected that the budget for 2022-23 will cross Rs 1.75 lakh crore.
Asked about any restriction to be imposed for the budget session in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Speaker said he will hold discussion with the Health department officials and take a decision in this regard.