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Informist, Tuesday, Jul 23, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Union Budget for 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) made generous allocations for Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, governed by key allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 150-bln-rupee special financial assistance for Andhra Pradesh through multilateral agencies to facilitate the state's development plan for a new capital. On the other hand, the financial support for Bihar was announced through several infrastructure-related packages.

Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are governed by the Telugu Desam Party and Janata Dal (United), respectively. The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is dependent on the two regional parties for support. Both TDP and JD(U) have been demanding special category status for their states.

"In the current financial year, 15,000 crore rupees (150 bln rupees) will be arranged (for Andhra Pradesh), with additional amounts in future years," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. She also announced that grants would be provided for the backward regions of Rayalaseema, Prakasam and North Coastal Andhra. The finance minister further said that the government was committed to financing the Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh.

Expressing satisfaction with the Budget proposals, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu today thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sitharaman for recognising the needs of the state. "This support from the Centre will go a long way towards rebuilding Andhra Pradesh. I congratulate you on the presentation of this progressive and confidence-boosting Budget," Naidu said.

For Bihar, the Centre allocated 260 bln rupees for road connectivity projects, and 214 bln rupees to set up a 2,400-MW power plant. The government also announced financial support of 115 bln rupees for irrigation and flood mitigation projects in the state.

"We will also support development of road connectivity projects, namely Patna-Purnea Expressway, Buxar-Bhagalpur Expressway, Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Vaishali and Darbhanga spurs, and additional 2-lane bridge over river Ganga at Buxar at a total cost of 26,000 crore rupees (260 bln rupees)," Sitharaman said. The government has also announced support for the development of the Vishnupad temple at Gaya, and the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya, in Bihar, into pilgrim and tourist destinations.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also expressed satisfaction over the special package for the state. "...they have announced aid for a lot of things...We were speaking of special status and a lot of people said that the provision for special status has been done away with much earlier. So, instead of that, aid should be given for helping Bihar. They have now started it," Kumar told reporters.

The government's Purvodaya plan, announced in the Budget, apart from helping Andhra and Bihar, is also aimed at Jharkhand, where Assembly election is scheduled over the year-end, Odisha where the BJP formed government for the first time last month, and West Bengal. "This will cover human resource development, infrastructure, and generation of economic opportunities to make the region an engine to attain Viksit Bharat," Sitharaman said.

The Budget seems to have missed out on a long-standing demand from Odisha for a special category status or special financial assistance to build cyclone resistance infrastructure. It has been a long-standing demand of the state, even when former chief minister Naveen Patnaik was in power, for a special category status. The central government, however, did announce a tourism package for Odisha to develop its temples, monuments, craftsmanship, wildlife sanctuaries, natural landscapes, and pristine beaches.

The finance minister expressed that the government was committed to financing the Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh, which Odisha has been opposing and even filed a suit in the Supreme Court.

The Biju Janata Dal today staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha, when the Budget was laid, over the denial of special category status to Odisha. "While Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar had been asking for special category, the two states got special additional funds while Odisha's demand was not considered. Probably this is the punishment meted out to Odisha for electing 20 Lok Sabha BJP members out of 21 from Odisha and the reward to the BJP allies from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh," BJD Rajya Sabha Member Sasmit Patra said in a post on X.  End

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Aditya Sakorkar

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