Union Budget 2023-24: UT gets Rs 6,087 crore, lion’s share for education

Though Chandigarh had sought Rs 7,000 crore, it was happy with the allocation it received as it was comparatively better than last year. Of the total budget allocation, Chandigarh received Rs 5,365.07 crore under revenue head while it received Rs 722.03 crore under the Capital Head.

Businessmen watch the Budget 2023-24 at CII, Chandigarh, Wednesday. Picture by Jasbir Malhi

4 min readChandigarhFeb 1, 2023 11:38 PM IST First published on: Feb 1, 2023 at 11:38 PM IST

With an increase of Rs 704.31 crore (13.08 per cent) from that of last year, the Union Territory of Chandigarh received a budget of Rs 6,087.10 crore from the Centre under the Union budget for 2023-24 announced here Wednesday. Though Chandigarh had sought Rs 7,000 crore, it was happy with the allocation it received as it was comparatively better than last year. Of the total budget allocation, Chandigarh received Rs 5,365.07 crore under revenue head while it received Rs 722.03 crore under the Capital Head. This was more compared to the budget estimates of 2022-23 when the UT had received Rs 4843.46 crore under the revenue head and Rs 539.33 crore under the Capital Head.

Education

The department of education received a major boost with UT being allocated Rs 1,102.25 crore which is an increase of Rs 219.51 crore from last year.

In 2022-23, Chandigarh had received a budget of Rs 882.74 crore while in year 2021-22, it had received Rs 849.50 crore.

Projects under Education include provision for modernisation and purchase of equipment, development of infrastructure for NCC, Providing Amenities/Services, Graduate Courses and Modernisation and Construction of New Polytechnic, funds for Government Polytechnic for women and Industrial Training Institute.

The Education department too saw an increase in the budget allocation of Rs 882.74 crore from last fiscal’s Rs 849.50 crore.

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Housing and Urban Development

In the 2022-23 budget, the government had allocated only Rs 838.59 crore under Housing and Urban Development and for this financial year, UT has received Rs 844.97 crore, an increase of Rs 6.38 crore.

In 2021-22, under the same head, Chandigarh was allocated Rs 950.41 crore. Housing and Urban development means all projects of urban infrastructure.

Health

In the health sector, Chandigarh has received budget allocation of Rs 53 crore more compared to last year.

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For this fiscal, Chandigarh has been allocated Rs 661.79 crore which is about Rs 52.7 crore more than what it received in 2022-23 that is Rs 609.09 crore.

In 2021-2022, health sector was allocated only Rs 546.86 crore. Health has always been a focus in the past three fiscals.

The health services include provision for upgradation of 50-bed Community Health Center to 250-bed Hospital, strengthening of 50-bed Polyclinic Chandigarh, strengthening of rural and urban subsidiary health Centers, strengthening of Employees State Insurance Scheme, other Health Care Schemes, AYUSH Homeopathy and Ayurveda, Construction of Regional Trauma Centre, Mental Health Institute and others.

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Energy

Budget allocation under the energy sector has seen a dip of Rs 67.93 crore from the last budget.

While last year, Rs 1031.23 crore was allocated under energy, this fiscal, it is only Rs 963.30 crore.

Police, Housing and Allied

Under Police, Housing and allied, Chandigarh has been allotted Rs 743.40 crore, which is an increase of Rs 102.73 crore from that of last fiscal.

Last year, Chandigarh received a budget of Rs 640.67 crore under this head and Rs 603.65 crore was allocated in 2021-22. This sector includes projects of provision for Police Housing and allied works that is Development of Infrastructure, Building, Renovation of existing residential houses etc.

Road and transport

Under, road and transport, Chandigarh was allocated Rs 405 crore in this budget that is for 2023-24 which is around 103.25 crore more than what it was allocated in 2022-23 that is Rs 301.75 crore. This head includes provision for purchase of new buses, replacement of condemned buses and upgradation of bus stand, computerisation of Chandigarh Transport Undertaking, construction of Link Road, Purchase of Video Coach Buses for Intercity transport.

Hina Rohtaki

Hina Rohtaki is a Special Correspondent at The Indian Express, bas... Read More