Orissa Assembly adjourned till June 25

Bhubaneswar, June 8 (UNI) Speaker Maheswar Mohanty today adjourned the Orissa Assembly till June 25 after the House adopted the annual budget for 2007-2008 by a voice vote.

The budget session of the house commenced on June 1 when Finance Minister P C Ghadei presented Rs 24133.69 crore annual budget for consideration of the house.

Summing up the two day debate on the budget today, Mr.Ghadei claimed that for the first time the budget showed a revenue surplus of Rs 1045.76 crore and fiscal surplus of Rs 387.14 crore.

The Finance Minister also claimed that the revenue collection (Rs 8166 crore ) and capital expenditure (Rs 1913 crore) were highest during the year.

He told the House that for the first time the state could able to provide the matching share fully for all the centrally sponsored projects and announced that the Finance department had given clearance for recruitment of 1,02,561 posts in various departments.

Mr Ghadei further said the state had added 2,57,440 hectares under irrigation coverage during the last seven years while 196 of the total 314 blocks in the state achieved the targeted 35 per cent irrigation coverage.

UNI