Andhra Pradesh   

Major share for irrigation sector in A.P. budget

Special Correspondent

Finance Minister presents tax-free budget; boost for housing

HYDERABAD: Continuing to lay special emphasis on the Irrigation sector in its budget for 2007-08, the Rajasekhara Reddy Government has tried to silence critics by significantly boosting the allocations for housing and welfare.

Irrigation received a whopping outlay of Rs. 13,002 crores, a 30 per cent increase over last year's, and housing nearly 300 per cent more at Rs. 5,443 crores in the tax-free budget presented by Finance Minister Konijeti Rosaiah in the Assembly on Monday. These two sectors account for well over half of the State's annual plan of Rs. 30,013.54 crores.

Inching towards the goal of achieving zero revenue deficit by 2008-09 as stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility & Budget Management (FRBM) Act, the Finance Minister showed a meagre negative balance of Rs. 33.08 crores towards the end of the coming fiscal. Mr. Rosaiah could have easily shown a surplus budget but avoided the temptation as it would lead to curtailment of Central funds. The fiscal deficit will, however, remain

high -- Rs. 8,620 crores -- constituting 3.01 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

The Rs.74,441-crore budget, higher by nearly 28 per cent over last year, envisages non-plan expenditure of Rs. 44,423 crore of which over Rs. 15,000 crore will go towards salaries and pensions, over Rs. 13,500 crores towards debt repayment and interest burden. A provision of Rs. 2,425 crores has been made towards power subsidy to the farm sector that includes Rs. 1250 crores for next rabi. In spite of the bright picture of the economy painted by the Finance Minister such as a projected 8.5 to 9 per cent GSDP growth rate in the XI Plan commencing shortly , there are several grey areas. One is the negative growth rate of agriculture and the other is the outstanding debt that will rise to Rs. 86,464 crore by the end of the coming fiscal.

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