Buggana Rajendranath Reddy presents Rs 2,86,389-Cr vote-on-account budget for 2024-25

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajanedranath Reddy has proposed a Rs 2,86,389 crore interim budget for fiscal 2024-25 here on Wednesday.

Presenting the budget he said that the revenue expenditure was estimated at Rs 2,30,110.41 crore and capital expenditure at Rs 30,530.18 crore. The estimated revenue deficit was around Rs 24,758.22 crore and the fiscal deficit was estimated at around Rs 55,817.50 crore. The fiscal deficit would be around 3.51 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), while the revenue deficit would be 1.56 percent.

“Five years ago, while presenting my first budget, I stated that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy regarded our manifesto as a sacrosanct text. It was a collation of expressions of the genuine needs of the people of Andhra Pradesh, our Chief Minister had observed during his 3,648 km padayatra and meeting people from all sections of society, especially the poor and vulnerable,” he said.

SC welfare

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Enlisting the ongoing social welfare programmes in the State he said that in addition to the DBT and priority schemes, the Government also implemented several programs for the holistic development of youth from SC communities. The students from Social Welfare Residential Schools performed commendably in competitive exams like JEE and NEET.

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Over 200 students secured admissions in IITs, NITs, and other premier colleges from 2019 to 2023, eight students were selected for the completely funded one-year Kennedy Lugar-Youth Exchange and Study Program and one student represented at the UN conference on SDG in New York in September 2023, the Minister said.

Under tribal welfare from June 2019 till date, 1,29,842 individual titles for 2,19,763 acres, and 526 Community titles for 67,946 acres were recognised. In all 26,287 DKT pattas for 39,272 acres were distributed to empower tribal communities and uphold their rightful claims to land.

Free power was enhanced from 100 to 200 units per month for ST households. To provide income security to tribal coffee farmers, the Government has expanded existing coffee plantations, rejuvenated existing plantations, improved the quality of coffee through the provision of pulpers, and organic certification, and facilitated marketing through GCC.

BC Welfare

The Government established 56 new corporations for BCs. In the last five years, the Government spent Rs 71,740 crore covering 102 lakh beneficiaries under various programs and schemes for BC welfare.

Polavaram

He said that the Government was committed to completing the Polavaram national project, the lifeline of Andhra. The Government was taking all steps to get the revised cost estimates of the project approved by the Government of India and expedited the construction activity.

The progress of headworks which was at 42 percent in May 2019 was now more than 70 percent completed. “For the first time in the history of river Godavari, the flood water is being diverted through the spillway duly erecting all the radial gates,” he said.

Ports & Airports

Four ports were under construction at Ramayapatnam, Machilipatnam, Mulapeta, and Kakinada with a total investment of Rs. 20,000 crore, additional capacity of 110 MTPA by 2025-26, and employment potential of around 75,000 persons.

Ten fishing harbours were under construction with an investment of Rs. 3,800 crore at Juvvaladinne, Nizampatnam, Machilipatnam, Uppada, Budagatlapalem, Kothapatnam, Vodarevu, Budagatlapalem, Biyyaputhippa, and Manchineellapeta. This would add 4.5 lakh tonnes of additional fish and prawn catch worth Rs. 9,000 crore employing one lakh persons. Another six Fish Landing Centres were developed with an investment of Rs. 127 crore at Chintapalli, Bheemili, Rajayyapeta, Dondawaka, Uppalanka, and Rayadaruvu.

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The Finance Minister said that the AP Inland Waterways Authority was established in June 2023 for the development of inland water transport. AP's first riverine project, between Muktyala and Madipadu on the Krishna River, was conceived in a record time of five months. He said the Government also revitalized the development works of Bhogapuram International Airport, and airports at Gannavaram, Kadapa, Rajahmundry, Tirupati, Kurnool, and Visakhapatnam. Flight operations were commenced at Kurnool.

Roads &Fibre Grid

“Our Government has incurred an expenditure of Rs.2,626 crore for the development of State Highways, Rs.1,955 crore for major district roads, and Rs.272 crore under RCPLWE during the five years,” he said.

Under the Andhra Pradesh Fibre Grid programme, the Government completed the implementation of the BharatNet Phase-II Project in November 2023. A total of 55,000 km of Optical Fiber Network was laid connecting 11,254 Gram Panchayats across 613 mandals. 30Gpbs throughput was achieved in each Gram Panchayat though the required provision by the Centre was just 1Gbps. All village and ward secretariats, rythu bharosa kendralu, schools, and PHCs were internet-enabled

New medical institutions

The government sanctioned 17 new Government medical colleges. So far, 10 new medical colleges, 10 teaching hospitals, four other hospitals, and three nursing colleges had been established. Three super specialty hospitals such as the Kidney Research Centre in Palasa, Children's heart centre in Tirupati, and six cancer centres were also established.

New Knowledge Institutions

The Government also established a Tribal Engineering College at Kurupam, Central Tribal University at Vizianagaram, JNTU at Gurajada, Vizianagaram, Andhra Kesari University at Ongole, Dr. YSR Architecture and Fine Arts University at YSR Kadapa, New Model Degree College for Women in Araku, and Cluster University at Kurnool to provide accessible and inclusive higher education for all sections of the society.