Laying emphasis on agrarian sector development, Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari on Friday presented the State Budget of Rs 2,30,000 crore for the 2023-24 fiscal in the Assembly, the last full-fledged budget ahead of the 2024 polls.

The government is laying focus on the agriculture sector and has been supporting this sector through a separate Agriculture Budget since 2013-14 with allocation of a sizable portion of its resources, the Minister told the Assembly.

An outlay of Rs 24,829 crore has been made in the agriculture Budget 2023-24, an increase of nearly 21 per cent than the 2022-23 fiscal.

A budgetary provision of Rs.2,000 crore has been made in the budget as a revolving fund for utilisation of paddy procurement operations besides the borrowings by Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation.

There has been an allocation of Rs 16,048 crore for the Health sector, an increase of 27% over previous year.

The government has made budgetary provisions of Rs 854 crore for the setting up of 16 new instream storage projects and Rs 500 crore for Parbati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation Project.

Besides, Rs 4198 crore has been allocated for setting up of 1 lakh additional deep bore wells by 2025-26, Rs 400 crore for 1500 lift irrigation projects under Biju Krushak Vikas Yojana and Rs 191 crore for renovation of defunct lift irrigation projects.

The budget focuses on achieving rapid and inclusive growth through development of human resources, investment in physical and social infrastructure, health care for all, provision of social safety nets for the disadvantaged and vulnerable sections and empowerment of youth, finance minister Pujari said.

The new initiatives for which budgetary allocations have been made included Rs 750 crore (Ama Hospital), Rs 139 crore (Chief Minister’s Awards for Education), Rs 811 crore (Mukhyamantri Medhabi Chatra Protsahan), Rs 120 crore (Mukhyamantri Janajati Jeebika Mission), Rs 150 crore (Mukhyamantri Disaster Resilient Saline Embankment), Rs 100 crore (Location Accessible Multimodal Initiatives (LACCMI), Rs 150 crore (Ama Bus Stand), Rs 50 crore (Mukhyamantri Kendu Leaf Welfare Fund), Rs 100 crore (Promotion of Entrepreneurship for women SHGs), and Rs 126 crore (Coffee Mission).

Rs 250 crore has been allocated for the Chief Minister’s Energy Conservation Programme), Rs 1,446 crore (Chief Minister’s Power Development Programme), Rs 100 crore (International Air Connectivity), Rs 50 crore (Odisha Renewable 15 Energy Development Fund), Rs 210 crore (Mukhyamantri Maschya Jibi Kalyan Yojana), Rs 250 crore (Mukhyamantri Sampoorna Pushti Yojana), Rs 250 crore (Building for Van Surakshya Samiti), Rs 100 crore: NUA Odisha (Nutana Unnata Abhilasha), Rs 50 crore (Mission Shakti Scooter Yojana).