Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel while answering to the discussions on budget demand proposals for the Third Supplementary Budget worth Rs 505 crore, said due to schemes and policies being implemented by his government, attraction towards agriculture has increased. After discussions on the budget demand proposals for the Third Supplementary Budget for the financial year 2020-21 worth Rs 505 crore, it was passed with majority vote. The size of the main budget was Rs 95,650 crores. Now after the first, second and third supplementary budget, the size of the budget has grown up to Rs 1,02,349 crore. He assured the House that the farmers would get the fourth installment of the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojana before the end of this financial year.

 

The Chief Minister said that the previous government had promised to waive farmers' loans and bonus every year, which was not fulfilled. During the tenure of the previous government, the size of agriculture in Chhattisgarh continued to shrink. This year, 21 lakh farmers registered to sell paddy at the support price, out of which more than 20.5 lakh farmers sold paddy. This time, during our tenure, paddy acreage also increased to 21 lakh hectares. The Chief Minister said farmers sitting on dharna in Delhi are demanding that paddy should be procured across the country as is being done in Chhattisgarh. The Chief Minister said that the Central Government is discriminating against Chhattisgarh. Ever since the new government has been formed in Chhattisgarh, the central government has reduced the state's share in central taxes by Rs 14,073 crore.

 

In the new budget of the central government, a provision has been made to reduce excise duty and to introduce 4 per cent cess in petrol and diesel. The entire amount of the cess will go to the Center, which will cause a loss of about Rs 1000 crores to Chhattisgarh. If all these funds were available with Chhattisgarh then there would have been no need for us to take loan. The current state government is taking loans in the same percentage as the previous government used to take loans. The Chief Minister said that when the UPA government was at the Center, the share of central taxes to Chhattisgarh was reduced by only Rs 1058 crore, during which the state got more than the provisioned amount in many years. The Chief Minister said that in the main budget, first and second supplementary budget for the financial year 2020-21, adequate provisions have been made for development works.

 

In the third supplement only those provisions were required which were much needed or a new head was opened. During the discussion, the Chief Minister said that the helicopter has been used by the previous government. The previous government had spent Rs 11.10 crore in 2016, Rs 11.96 crore in 2017, Rs 11.58 crore in 2018. Our government in the year 2019 has spent Rs 14.40 crores, Rs 8.21 crores has been spent in the year 2020 and Rs 1.30 crore in 2021. The previous Government had taken loans up to 18 percent of the total budget. Our Government took a 12 percent loan in 2019-20. In this financial year, we have taken 9 per cent debt so far. Talking about GSDP, the then Government had taken 19 pe rcent loan in the year 2005, the previous government had taken 17 per cent loan in its final year. We have definitely increased it up to 19 percent but the size of budget as well as the loan is more or less the same as compared to the previous Government.