Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Wednesday decided to convene the Budget session of state Assembly from February 18. The annual budget would be placed on February 24. All eyes are now set on the shape of this Budget, which sources said may lay emphasis on infrastructure development. The meeting chaired by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, took at least 30 decisions including one giving incentive to those industrial units, which have invested Rs 100 crore or more in the state. It may be mentioned that these incentives were stopped during Mayawati regime through a government order on November 18, 2011. However, based on the report of a special group of ministers formed to access the need for such incentives, cabinet decided to restart the programme. The Cabinet also gave clearance to establish cooperative sugar mill in Sathiaon area of Azamgarh. A 30,000-litre (per day) capacity distillery unit and a 16-mw capacity co-generation power plant will be set up in place of long-closed Sathiaon sugar mill. Azamgarh is the parliamentary constituency of SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. For the entire project Rs 333.21 crore proposal has been cleared. The state government also cleared a proposal of irrigation department to construct multipurpose dam on river Betwa in Jhnasi district with cost of Rs 612 crore. Other decisions include development of Amausi area in Lucknow, Ramnagar in Varanasi and Surajpur in Gautam Budh Nagar as showcase industrial model areas, to declare Hawaizada movie entertainment tax free; declare Rs 5 lakh “Begum Akhtar Award” for artistes excelling in “Thumri, Dadara and Ghazal”; to allow judges to buy furniture and other decorative items put up at their residences at “depreciating value” during retirement. The Cabinet also gave clearance to demand inclusion of Namoshudra, Pondra and Ponda communities under the list of scheduled castes. Clearance was also given to the proposal to demolish 38 year old badminton hall at Amitabh Bachchan Sports complex, Allahabad to make way for a new one. The Cabinet also has decided to float fresh tenders for high security number plates.
