Rs 4613 cr surplus budget for 2008-09 placed in Bihar Assembly

Patna, Feb 25 (UNI) A Rs 4613 crore surplus budget for 2008-09 was placed in the Bihar Assembly today by Finance Minister Sushil Kumar Modi amid the boycott of the entire Opposition.

The surplus budget, presented for the third year in a row since 2006-07, had also indicated a healthy 14 per cent growth in terms of revenue generation from the last fiscal (2007-08) when the surplus was to the tune of Rs 3483 crore.

Placing his third budget as the Finance Minister, also the Deputy Chief Minister, Mr Modi said during the coming fiscal the total planned and non-planned expenditure of the Government had been increased to Rs 38,574.11 crore from Rs 33,783.71 crore during the current fiscal.

Stating that the capital expenditure of the state Government during the period under review was proposed to be increased by 19.5 per cent from this year and four times from 2005-06, Mr Modi said by following strict fiscal discipline they had been able to restrict the fiscal deficit to only 2.89 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) during the coming financial year against the target of three per cent.

The state plan during the period under review had also been increased to Rs 13,500 crore, up by 32.35 per cent from the current fiscal, Mr Modi said adding among the non-plan oulays for major sectors, education, health and repair of roads had also been increased by 15 per cent, 25 per cent and 12 per cent to Rs 5267 crore, Rs 1278 crore and Rs 435 crore respectively.

Expressing concern that no Central assistance had been available to the state Government so far to deal with the devastating flood in the state last year, Mr Modi informed the House that between 2006-07 and 2008-09 the state Government had allocated Rs 9863 crore for this purpose.

Moreover, he said in agriculture, irrigation and Animal Husbandry, the total budgetory allocation for 2008-09 was proposed to be increased by 43 per cent to Rs 191 crore, by 46 per cent to Rs 1600 crore and by 75 per cent from 12.5 crore to Rs 62 crore respectively.

Earlier, protesting the Speaker's refusal to admit their separate adjournment motions for discussions on the murder of their respective leaders, the entire Oopposition, including the RJD, Congress, Lok Janshakti Party, CPI (M), CPI and the CPI(ML), had boycotted the presentation the budget.

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