The UP Budget

One may look forward to new and better roads, bridges and state highways besides robust irrigation facilities in the financial year 2013-14, with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav clearly laying more emphasis on infrastructure development in the UP state budget.
The CM made a budgetary provision of Rs.14,900 crore on infrastructure development, which is Rs.3,021 crore more than what was provisioned in 2012-13 state budget. This is apart from a budgetary provision of Rs.11,732 crore which Akhilesh made to strengthen the energy sector.
The allocation appears to be guided by an increased emphasis on capital creation in a bid to attract industrial investment in the state. In fact, Yadav, who also holds the finance portfolio, was candid in saying that his government has increased the budgetary allocation for capital creation by around 25.5%. The state government, last month, had made an attempt to woo the industrial houses to the state at the industry summit in Agra.
The state government has allocated a sum of Rs.7,848 crore for construction, maintenance, repair, widening and strengthening of roads and bridges. This is Rs.1,204 crore higher than the budgetary provision made in the last financial year. Of the total budgetary provision made for roads and bridges, Rs.1,110 crore has been made for construction and maintenance of bridges, which includes Rs.300 crore for construction of railway overbridges.
Stress has been laid on construction of link roads and small bridges to facilitate agriculture marketing facilities, for which an amount of Rs.1,877 crore has been allocated. Likewise, a provision of Rs.250 crore has been made for connecting the villages/settlements with the pucca link roads. The state government will also be spending Rs.350 crore for construction of link roads to connect district headquarters with four-lane roads. The state highways, main district roads and other district roads having high traffic density are also proposed to be improved at a cost of Rs.200 crore.
In addition to this, construction of an 8-lane access control green field expressway from Agra to Lucknow and 4-lane northern peripheral road of Ghaziabad under PPP has been mentioned again in this year’s budget.
The state government has also laid more emphasis on improving irrigation facilities by making a provision of Rs.7,061 crore, which is more than Rs.1,817 crore as compared to last year’s budget. Another Rs.750 crore has been allocated for flood control works. Similarly, an amount of Rs.200 crore has been earmarked for second phase of the UP Water Sector Restructuring Project. The World Bank-aided project essentially serves four components – irrigation and drainage (35%), general water, sanitation and flood protection sector (25%), crops (25%), agricultural extension and research (15%). It was only last week when the bank, in its integrated safeguard data sheet pegged the project to the tune of Rs 514.8 million dollars (over Rs 2,500 crore).
Likewise, a budgetary provision of Rs.200 core has been made for repairing, renovation and restoration of water bodies. Initially this scheme will be implemented in Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Lalitpur districts of Bundelkhand region.
On the minor irrigation front, a provision of Rs.340 crore has been made to create an additional irrigation potential of 8.80 lakh hectares. The UP government has also not missed on making a provision of Rs.30 crore for free boring scheme and another Rs.5 crore under Ram Manohar Lohia Community Tube Well Scheme