The Hindu : National : Mayawati’s priority is development

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 30, 2007
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National

Mayawati’s priority is development

Atiq Khan

LUCKNOW: With the emphasis on infrastructure development, particularly in rural areas, and improving the social sector, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday presented the 2007 budget, which, for the first time in the State’s history exceeded Rs.1 lakh crore. The budget showed a revenue surplus of Rs.6,142 crore.

In her 60-minute budget speech in theAssembly, Ms. Mayawati — who holds the Finance portfolio — said the annual financial statement of the Bahujan Samaj Party Government was based on the principle of “sarvajan hitaya, s arvajan sukhaya.” The philosophy of the budget related to the welfare and progress of the exploited, the repressed and the poor. The objective of establishing a society based on equality could not be achieved by “organising” the ‘bahujan samaj’ only; upper caste Hindus would also have to be taken along.

Ms. Mayawati said that as many as 512 schemes, totalling Rs.8,900 crore, had been proposed. Private sector investment in the development of infrastructure projects would be encouraged. Since the financial year 2007-08 was the first year of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), a target of 10 per cent growth rate had been fixed for Uttar Pradesh. An investment of around Rs.8 lakh crore would be needed for achieving the growth target.
Main schemes

Among the main schemes proposed is the Ambedkar Gram Sabha Vikas Yojana for the integrated development of Ambedkar villages. An expenditure of Rs.10,000 crore is estimated to be spent on rural infrastructure development. This includes construction of link roads in 3,500 ‘gaon sabhas’ and 1,000 villages and reconstruction of link roads and small bridges in the Ambedkar villages. Rural electrification, installation of hand pumps and underground drainage system are the other components of the scheme.

A new scheme named after Ms. Mayawati’s mentor, Kanshi Ram, will be launched for improving the urban infrastructure. Called the “Mananiya Kanshi Ramji Shahri Vikas Yojana,” financial assistance will be providedto urban local bodies for developing infrastructure.

A sum of Rs.200 crore has been earmarked for the scheme. Another Rs.322 crore will be spent on completing the works in the Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial Museum in Lucknow. A further Rs.44 crore will be spent on the “long-term” maintenance of the Rama Bai Memorial Garden, also in Lucknow.

Since power availability is integral to infrastructure development, the budget provides for a huge investment of Rs.9,209 crore in the energy sector.

Of this, Rs.4,036 crore will be spent on reforms and improvement in transmission and distribution facilities, Rs.1,037 crore on refurbishment of power plants and setting up of projects in the public sector and Rs.2,340 crore for electrification of villages under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme.

A significant feature of the “sarv samaj” budget is that 30 per cent of posts of police station in-charge and station officer will be reserved for the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

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