PUDUCHERRY: The Budget session of Puducherry Legislative Assembly is set to commence on August 10 with the Lt Governor's customary address, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly R Selvam said on Tuesday.
After the L-G address, the Business Advisory Committee will meet and decide the date on which Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who holds the finance portfolio, will present the Budget for the fiscal 2022-23. A Vote on Account for Rs 3,613 crore had been passed in the Legislative Assembly to meet the government's expenditure for five months (April to August). The government will present a full-fledged budget to be passed in the Assembly before August 31.
The State Planning Board which met under the L-G had approved a draft budgetary outlay of Rs 11,000 crore for the Union Territory for fiscal 2022-23 and subsequently sent it to the Ministry of Home Affairs for approval. This draft budget is ₹1,075.59 crore more than the previous year’s outlay of ₹9,924.41 crore. However the government expects some additional funds from the Centre for infrastructure projects, which may enhance the budgetary outlay, said government sources.
Meanwhile, the Union government had earmarked central assistance of ₹1,729.79 crore for Puducherry in its Budget. But the government will face financial constraints owing to the Centre’s decision to wind up GST compensation. “If GST compensation is not continued beyond June 2022 Puducherry will have a revenue gap of around Rs 1300 crore for the balance period of 2022-23," PWD Minister K Lakshminarayanan said earlier.
Consultant selected to prepare DPR
The UT government selected a consultant from three shortlisted people to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR), after the approval of the technical bid (architectural design), for the construction of a new Integrated Legislative Assembly complex. The new integrated Assembly cum-administrative complex is set to come up at Thattanchavady in Ourgaret municipal limits.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is awaiting the project report from the UT government for funding the construction. In a letter to the Speaker and Chief Secretary on May 6, second-in-command of the UT-division of the MHA Ravi Ranjan stated that the Ministry is awaiting the preliminary project report, to make the provision for the fund. The requirement of special central assistance has to be projected during September-October 2022 when the Finance Ministry issues the Budget circular for formulation of revised estimates of 2022-23 and budget estimates for 2023-24, said Ranjan. He advised the Puducherry government to provide the preliminary project report at the earliest to take action.
The Puducherry government had sought special central assistance of Rs 335 crore in two installments (Rs 200 crore in 2022-23 and Rs 135 crore in 2023-24) for the complex construction, said Selvam.