Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh finance minister Jagdish Deoda presented a budget of ₹3.65 lakh crores– 16% higher than the previous year’s budget—in the state assembly on Wednesday with increased allocations for the culture department, cow conservation, development of religious places and construction of expressway roads among others.
The government increased the budget for cow conservation by three times and that of the culture department by 2.5 times.
However, there is no increase in the amount being provided under the Ladli Behna Scheme or in the minimum support price of wheat and rice, which were the poll promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2023 assembly elections in the state. This was the first budget of the government led by chief minister Mohan Yadav.
In his 2-hour-48-minute-long budget speech, Deoda, who is also the state’s deputy chief minister, said the government’s focus was on increasing income of residents and providing employment by filling vacant posts.
Deoda said, “ ₹10,000 crores has been allocated for development of expressways including Atal Pragati Path, Narmada Pragati Path, Vindhya Expressway, Malwa-Nimad Vikas Path, Bundelkhand Vikas Path and Madhya Bharat Vikas Path.”
He said, “A total of 2,190 cow shelters are being operated in the state for about 3 lakh cows. The amount provided for cow feed in the cow shelters has been doubled from ₹20 per cow per day to ₹40. The budget provision has been increased by three times to ₹250 crores for the year 2024-25.”
On the allocations to the culture department, he said, “Our government is establishing Veer Bharat Trust, a museum of the brilliance of the timeless great heroes of India. Through the establishment of Veer Bharat Museum, Madhya Pradesh has taken steps in the historic work of preserving the contribution of the heroes of Indian civilization. This will be the first museum of its kind in the country and the world.”
“We will develop Ram Path Gaman and Shri Krishna Pathey to preserve and promote the literature, culture and traditions of the related areas. A budget provision of ₹50 crores is proposed for the Chief Minister’s Tirtha Darshan scheme in the year 2024-25. A budget provision of ₹1,081 crores is proposed for the culture department in the year 2024-25, which is two and a half times the expenditure of the year 2023-24,” he added.
“A provision of ₹26,560 crores is proposed for women and child development department for 2024-25, which is 81 % more than the budget estimate of the year 2023-24. There is a provision of ₹1.21 lakh crores in the gender budget in the year 2024-25, which is 19,000 crores more than the previous year,” he said.
He further said, “In case of death during treatment in a government hospital, Shanti Vahan service will be started to respectfully send the body to the home. Similarly, the state government will pay the fine of poor prisoners, who must spend extra years in jail due to no money to pay it.”
The minister said the state government has also made a provision of ₹500 crores for Simhastha to be held in 2028. This will lead to development work in Ujjain and 10 surrounding districts.
He said three more government medical colleges will be opened in Mandsaur, Neemuch and Seoni. Ayurveda hospitals will be started in Balaghat, Shahdol, Sagar, Narmadapuram and Morena. Gram Research Institutes will be established in Ujjain and Mustard Research Institute in Gwalior.
Under the PM e-Bus scheme, 552 e-buses will be run in 6 cities – Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain and Sagar.
E-Vidhan, e-Cabinet, e-Vidhan Office will be created. Under the e-MLA Office Scheme, ₹5 lakh will be given per MLA.
Chief minister Mohan Yadav said, “This budget will take the state forward. The overall development will take place and the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of seeing MP a developed state will be accomplished.”
However, leader of Opposition in the state assembly Umang Singhar said, “The budget doesn’t have anything to give relief to people from inflation and unemployment. Before assembly elections, PM Modi had given many guarantees to residents of MP but not a single one has been included in this budget.”
