CM presents budget for FY 2023-24; College Fagathansi Mission on the cards
Focus placed on Edn, Health, Sports, Drinking Water
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 21 2023: As the third session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly resumed today, Chief Minister N Biren who is also in charge of Finance Department tabled the annual budget for the financial year 2023-24 .

Tabling the budget, the Chief Minister pointed out that an allocation of Rs 1.30 lakh crore was made in the Union budget 2023-24 for the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SACI) .

The State Government aims to make use of this special assistance to make capital investment in critical areas.

Allocations under the scheme will also be linked to scrapping old Government vehicles, urban planning reforms and actions, financing reforms in urban local bodies to make them creditworthy for municipal bonds, housing for police personnel above or as part of police stations, construction of unity malls, children and adolescents' libraries and digital infrastructure, and State share of capital expenditure of Central schemes, Biren said.

CM presents budget for FY 2023-24; College Fagathansi Mission on the cards

The Chief Minister stated that the State Government has been working to mobilize resources to meet the increasing expenditure requirements.

"Our efforts have borne fruit which can be seen from the growth in State GST by 28 % and in overall State's own tax revenue by 25 % growth in 2021-22 compared to 2020- 21", he said.

The focus areas listed in the State budget are education, health, sports, entrepreneurship and start-ups, tourism and culture, connectivity, agriculture and associated sectors, security/policing, drinking water and sanitation, inclusive development and public administration, forest and environment.

On the education sector, the Chief Minister stated that the Government has been planning to strengthen 120 High and Higher Secondary Schools across the State by tying up with the Ministry of DoNER and NESIDS.

The Government is also launching 'College Fagathansi Mission' in order to improve the infrastructure of Government colleges.

The State Government would leverage the SACI to meet the infrastructure gaps in Government colleges, he said.

The State Government has been planning a capital investment of at least Rs 60 crore in the next financial year under the College Fagathansi Mission, Biren told the House.

The Government is also launching 'Chief Minister's Scheme for support to EWS students for pursuing professional courses' with an allocation of Rs 4 crore.

Overall, the Government is providing Rs 3292 crore for the education sector in the budget, Biren said.

Regarding health, the Chief Minister informed the House that the budgetary allocation for CMHT has been doubled from Rs 20 crore to Rs 40 crore.

The total allocation for the health sector in the budget is Rs 1919 crore.

On sports, Biren said that an allocation of Rs 1.5 crore has been provided in the budget in order to engage foreign coaches for training sports persons of the State.

In order to nurture and develop young football talents of the State, the Government is setting up 'Manipur State Football Academy' and its infrastructure would be funded from the SACI.

Nonetheless, an amount of Rs 2 crore has been allocated in the budget for operation of the academy, Biren said.

He said that the Government has been planning to develop natural grass football grounds at 10 locations with an approximate cost of about Rs 8 crore per ground across the State under the SACI in two years.

The State budget allocates Rs 2 crore for setting up Saikhom Mirabai Chanu Fitness Centre at Nongpok Kakching.

To promote indigenous games, works have started on an Indigenous Sports Complex in Senapati under the SACI with an allocation of Rs 7.2 crore this year.

The amount earmarked in the State budget for development of indigenous games has also been raised to Rs 3 crore, he said.

With regard to entrepreneurship and start-ups, the Chief Minister told the House that the State Government launched a 'Venture Fund' on 12th November 2022 with NEDFi to increase the availability of funding avenues for Start-Ups in the State.

The State Government will provide a corpus of Rs 15 crore, with NEDFi raising another Rs 15 crore.

This Venture Fund will identify Start-Ups with long term growth potential and provide necessary support.

The budgetary allocation for entrepreneurship and start-ups is Rs 100 crore.

On tourism and culture, Biren stated that the Government has been planning to complete the multipurpose cultural complex at Manipur State Kala Academy this year and Rs 2 crore has been provided in the budget for the same.

Another Rs 3.5 crore has been allocated for upgrading the auditorium of INA complex, Moirang.

The budgetary allocation for the Sangai Festival has also been raised to Rs 15 crore.

The State Government has been working with the Ministry of Tourism on a plan to expand Sangai Ethnic Park and an amount of Rs 25.50 crore has been allocated from the State's own funds for the purpose, Biren said.

Regarding connectivity, the Chief Minister stated that Imphal-Kangchup-Tamenglong road taken up with funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with a cost of Rs 1437 crore has been progressing well and the target date for completion has been revised to December 2023 .

Once completed, this road would reduce the travel time from Imphal to Tamenglong from 6 hours to 3 hours.

For this, an amount of Rs 419 crore has been provided in the budget, he said.

The Imphal Ring Road to be taken up with funding from ADB, at a cost of Rs 1660 crore, has been in development for some time but implementation has been delayed due to cost changes.

Implementation of the project is likely to start from FY 2023-24 .

For this, an amount of Rs 350 crore has been provided, Biren said.

The project of constructing concrete roads in Imphal city is being finalized and the cost is estimated at Rs 3565 crore.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is funding this project and the project has been approved by AIIB's screening committee.

This project will cover 522 Kms of roads within Greater Imphal, he continued.

Implementation is targeted to start before the end of 2023.For this, an amount of Rs.466 crore has been provided.

On agriculture and associated sectors, the Chief Minister stated that a special allocation of Rs 2 crore has been made for promotion of millets in the State, in addition to funding provided under various Centrally sponsored schemes.

An amount of Rs 2 crore has also been provided in the budget for promotion of natural farming.

The overall budgetary allocation for agriculture and allied sectors is Rs 586 crore.

With regard to security/policing, the Chief Minister said that Rs 40 crore has been provided for upgrading equipment, vehicles, arms and ammunition of police.

"The 'war on drugs' is not only about arrests and punishment.

We had started a scheme for 'Alternative Livelihoods' for farmers of affected areas.

We are working with the Ministry of DoNER to expand this project to all affected areas in the State.

In addition, we are taking up a complementary scheme from this year to focus not only on alternative livelihoods but also protection and rejuvenation of the degraded areas.

For this year an amount of Rs.12 crore has been provided in the budget", Biren said.

On drinking water and sanitation, the Chief Minister stated that the State Government has taken up two major projects for provision of piped water supply.

One of them is the Jal Jeevan Mission, a Centrally sponsored scheme and the other is the New Development Bank funded 'Manipur Water Supply Project'.

Despite various challenges, the implementation of these projects is underway in full swing.

For water supply, an allocation of Rs 1592 crore has been made in the budget.

Under inclusive development and public administration, an amount of Rs 540 crore has been allocated for infrastructure development of Tamenglong College, Pettigrew College and construction of model residential schools at Kamjong, Kangpokpi, Senapati, Tamenglong, Ukhrul, Chandel, Churachandpur and Tengnoupal.

Under the SACI, the Government has started construction of Ima Markets at Kamjong, Noney, Pherzawl and Tengnoupal at a total cost of Rs 16 crore.

The Government has also started construction of amusement cum children parks in Churachandpur, Senapati, Tamenglong, Ukhrul, Chandel and Kangpokpi at a total cost of Rs 29 crore, he said.

The State budget for 2023-24 provides Rs 377 crore for afforestation and another Rs 30 crore for conservation of Loktak Lake.

According to the budget tabled today, the budget deficit is estimated at Rs 891 crore as compared to last year's budget deficit of Rs 1230 crore.

Whereas the fiscal deficit is estimated at Rs 2760 crore, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for 2023-24 is estimated at Rs 45145 crore.