CHENNAI: Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam will be presenting the budget for the financial year 2020-21 on February 14. This budget assumes significance as it will be the last full-fledged budget for the current term of the AIADMK government, ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. The budget session of the State Assembly is likely to last till the third week of March.
Further, since the elections to the rest of the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) in the nine districts and in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across the State are expected to be held in the second week of April, popular announcements are most likely to be made in this budget.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam have been paying special attention to the preparation of the budget. Special sops for farmers, new schemes for agriculture, MSME sector and employment creation etc., are likely to be the highlights of this budget. For the year 2019-20, Panneerselvam presented a revenue deficit budget without any populist measures. Also, last year's budget laid emphasis on infrastructure development while continuing the allocations for ongoing welfare and developmental schemes including poverty alleviation initiatives.
3.97 lakh cr O Panneerselvam had said the outstanding debt at the end of March 2020 was estimated at Rs 3,97,495.96 crore