Bhubaneswar: The announcement of state government to bring a supplementary budget of Rs 9,829crore in the upcoming winter session of the Assembly created a storm Thursday with opposition Congress deciding to move a privilege motion against the state finance minister for disclosing the budget figure before it is tabled on the floor of the house.
After the Council of Ministers meeting at Secretariat Thursdayk morning, state Finance Minister Shashibhusan Behera said that, “the Size of the supplementary budget is 9,829crore.”
“The supplementary budget would cater to the additional expenditure required in the remaining four months of the current fiscal. Focus has been given to all departments in the budget,” Behera said.
The meeting of the council of ministers, chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved the supplementary budget to carry forward several welfare schemes being implemented in the state.
The state government had presented Rs 1.06 lakh crore budget for the 2017-18 fiscal earlier.
The supplementary budget for the previous fiscal (2016-17) was Rs 6014crore.
Meanwhile, the disclosure of budget figure by the minister did not go well with some of the opposition party members.
Congress MLA Prafulla Majhi, who criticised the minister for revealing it before the media, said, “The figure shouldn’t have been disclosed to media as the budget is yet to be presented in the Assembly. We will move a privilege motion against the minister during the session.”
The winter session of the Orissa Legislative Assembly is beginning November 28. The month-long session will continue till December 30.
The session will have 26 working days including five private members days.
The supplementary budget for 2017-18 fiscal will be presented November 30, while the discussion on demand for grants for various departments will be taken up December 7, 8 and 11.
The appropriation bill will be tabled on the floor of the house December 12.
The state government is also scheduled to introduce some key bills during the session.
The session is expected to be stormy as opposition Congress and BJP gearing up to corner the state government over a host of issues including the alleged gang rape of a minor girl at Kunduli in Korapur, pest-attack on paddy fields and farmer suicide cases. PNN
