Bhubaneswar: In all likelihood, the Budget session of Orissa Legislative Assembly will commence February 22 after panchayat elections.
A proposal to this effect received consensus from all political parties who participated in the all-party meeting presided over by Speaker Niranjan Pujari on the Assembly precincts here Monday.
Pujari told reporters after the meeting in view of the prevailing model code of conduct the Budget session will commence after panchayat elections. The five-phase elections will be conducted across the state between February 13
and 21.
However, after the meeting Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said all parties have consented to the decision of commencement of Budget session February 22 and accordingly, proposals would be sent to Governor SC Jamir for his assent. As decided at the all-party meeting, the budget session will be held in two phases from February 22 to
April 7.
The first phase of the session will be held from February 22 to March 4, and the second phase from March 14 to April 7.
The annual budget is expected to be presented February 27 and the appropriation bill March 31 (second phase).
Accordingly, the state parliamentary affairs department will send the detailed proposals to the Governor for his nod, said the sources.
The all-party meeting further decided to present a full-fledged budget for 2017-18 fiscal in the House unlike budget in the previous fiscal (2016-17). The government had introduced a vote-on-account in the first phase and the complete budget in the subsequent phase after presentation of the Union budget, Pujari said.
The Speaker also said the Assembly will follow the procedure adopted by Parliament in the presentation of budget and may bring in appropriate changes as per need.
Budget for 2017-18 fiscal for the state is expected to cross `1 lakh crore.
The government will present its annual budget after analyzing the allocations it would receive under various heads from Union budget 2017-18 to be tabled in Parliament February 1.
State finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat said the state government, in its pre-budget meeting, has put forth its demand before the Centre for more budgetary allocations for Railways and other potential sectors.
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