Amidst protest by opposition parties, Odisha Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera today presented a Vote-on-Account worth Rs 56,921crore for the first four months of 2019-20 fiscal while tabling an interim budget of Rs 1.326 lakh crore for the full year of 2019-20 in the Odisha Assembly today.
As tenure of the current assembly is coming to an end on June 11, the new government will seek appropriation for the full financial year 2019-20 after the general elections.
“Keeping in view the requirement of funds for expenditure on payment of salary, pension, interest, old age pension, scholarship for SC and ST students, a sum of Rs 56,921 crore has been proposed in the vote-on-account before the House to defray the expenses during the first four months of the financial year from April to July 2019,” said Behera.
While presenting the interim budget, Behera informed that Odisha has been able to achieve a better economic growth of 8 % which is way more than the national average of 7.1 %. The State government has been successful in doubling the farmers’ income and has launched KALIA scheme, he said.