The Bihar Appropriation (No. 4) Bill, 2022 was passed in the state assembly on Friday, clearing the decks for the withdrawal of Rs 19,048.98 crore from the treasury by the state government for the 2022-23 fiscal. The bill was passed by voice vote amid a walkout by BJP legislators over the Saran hooch tragedy.
While presenting the bill in the House, state Finance Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary said, ”An amount of Rs 19,048.98 crore will be allocated to various departments.” The education department will get Rs 2,247 crore, rural development Rs 1,895 crore, road construction Rs 1,860 crore, energy Rs 1,390 crore, building construction Rs 1,105 crore and agriculture Rs 342 crore, he said.
Several other departments also require additional funds for the remaining period of this financial year, the minister said.
Accusing the Centre of dilly-dallying the release of funds under various welfare schemes, he said, ”The BJP-led Union government is playing politics over several centrally sponsored schemes. It has stopped releasing its share for various schemes in social, education and infrastructure sectors in Bihar.” ”In a majority of centrally sponsored schemes such as Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), the state government is paying the Union government’s share from its own coffers,” he said.
Meanwhile, ‘Green Budget’ for the remaining period of the current fiscal was also tabled in the assembly. ”In a ‘Green Budget’, the finance department presents the gross allocation to be spent by various departments on environment conservation measures to be taken in the 2022-23 fiscal,” a senior official of the department said.
”Green Budget implies that the budgeted money would be spent by various departments for the restoration of degraded ecological systems in the state and conservation of the existing ones so that the restoration of the ecological system, including its biodiversity, is achieved. ”The aim is to improve the living conditions of human beings as well as wildlife. A total of Rs 28,380 crore has been allocated for various departments under the provisions of the Green Budget 2022-23,” the finance department said in a statement issued after tabling of the budget.
