Puducherry UT to pass budget before August 31

Puducherry, July 28

Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who holds the finance portfolio, will present a full-fledged budget of the Union Territory before August 31.

The budget session of the Legislative Assembly will commence on August 10.

Governor Tamilisai Soundarrajan will the start the session with the customary address. The business advisory committee will meet after the Governor's address and decide on the date of the budget.

Notably, a Vote on Account for Rs 3,613 crore was passed in the Legislative Assembly to meet the government's expenditure for five months from April to August. The Planning board had met under the Lieutenant Governor and passed a budget outlay for Rs 11,000 crore for the UT for fiscal 2022-23. The previous year's budget outlay was Rs 9294.41 crore which is higher than Rs 1075.59 crore.

The Union government has already earmarked central assistance of Rs 1,729 crore for Puducherry in its budget. However, Puducherry is worried over the central government's decision to wind up the GST compensation, and the estimated revenue gap for the Union Territory, if the GST compensation is not continued beyond June 2022, will be Rs 1300 crore.

Meanwhile, the UT Government of Puducherry has shortlisted three consultants to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for construction of a new Integrated Legislative Assembly complex which is to come up at Thattanchavady near Ouragret municipal limits.

The budget for the construction of the Integrated Legislative Assembly Complex will be provided by the Union ministry for Home Affairs and Puducherry government has already sought special central assistance of Rs 335 crore in two installments for the construction of the legislative complex.