Shillong, Mar 9 : Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday presented the National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government’s last budget before Assembly elections, choosing not to levy fresh taxes but announced slew of packages with an eye on the elections to the 60-member assembly scheduled be held early next year. Presenting a Rs 1,849 crore deficit, tax free budget — around 4.5 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product — for 2022-23 fiscal, Sangma estimated the total expenditure at Rs 18,881 crore, of which revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs 15,376 crore and the capital expenditure at Rs 3,505 crore, excluding repayment of loans of Rs. 964 crore, the estimated total expenditure is Rs. 17,917 crore. The state is expected to generate the overall tax revenues to be Rs. 2,625 crore, out of which excise revenue is estimated at Rs. 350 crore for 2022-23 fiscal year. “I have estimated the total receipts at Rs 18,700 crore of which the revenue receipts are estimated at Rs 16, 035 crore and capital receipts at Rs 2,665. Excluding borrowing of Rs. 2,632 crore, the total receipts are estimated to be Rs 16,068 crore,” he said, adding that the interest payment during 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 1,110 crore and pension payment at Rs 1,469 crore. Expressing optimism that the state’s own resources generation would improve in 2022-23, he said the State’s share of central taxes is estimated at Rs. 6,264 crore for 2022-23. “The state will be receiving Rs 1,033 crore as revenue deficit grant, Rs. 76 crore as grants for disaster management, Rs. 140 crore for the Autonomous District Councils, Rs. 69 crore for Urban Local Bodies and Rs. 59 crore as grants for the health sector. The total transfers from the Government of India excluding the scheme related transfers are estimated at Rs. 7,641 crore,” he said. Sangma said the government is in the process of auctioning 32 lakh metric ton of extracted coal to generate additional revenue. Moreover, the Ministry of Coal has given its approval to 17 applicants for prospecting operation and it’s expected that the mining sector alone would generate Rs. 500 crore and the overall non-tax reception be Rs. 731 crore. Sangma, who also hold the Finance portfolio, presented the first of its kind, a ‘gender budget’, ‘youth budget’ and a ‘sustainable development goals budget’ with special emphasis on the welfare of women, children and the youth, marking the golden jubilee year of Meghalaya’s statehood. Emphasizing the centrality of the sustainable development goals, Sangma said, the government is proposing an outlay of Rs. 9182 crore for the year 2022-23, out of the total expected expenditure of Rs. 18881 crore, which is an increased of the about 19 per cent over the current financial year. Several ongoing and new projects would be provided adequate funds under the SDG such as water conservation, protection of catchment areas, externally aided projects, eco-restoration social assistance, health insurance and other projects. He added the state government is trying to improve governance by incorporating technology and make the overall governance more responsive and people-centric. In the gender budget, the state government has proposed an outlay of Rs. 2495 crore or 13 percent out of the total budget for the welfare and development of women in the state for the year 2022-23. “This government has formed about 28,000 Self Help Groups (SHGs) and mobilized women from about 3.2 lakh households. This is a five-fold jump since 2018. We have disbursed about Rs 211 crore to these SHGs and the ‘Village Organizations’ over the last four years. I am allocating an amount of Rs 115 crore for this program for 2022-23,” he announced. Under this budget category, Sangma said priority has been laid on maternal health under the MOTHER programme and due to this initiative the institutional delivery rate has gone up by 13 percent during the last three years. Moreover, schemes such as the Chief Minister’s Safe Motherhood Scheme have also helped improve the health of mothers, he informed the House. He said efforts are also being taken to improve the health of children imm zation programme for children have increased from 44 percent to 91 percent in the past three years. Proposing an allocation of Rs. 1617 crore for the health sector, an increase of 28 percent, over the allocation of this fiscal, the Chief Minister said the state government is also investing Rs. 350 crore with the assistance of World Bank to improve the health infrastructure of the state. In the youth budget, the state government has proposed an investment of Rs. 1, 363 crore constituting about 7 percent of the total budget. Mr. Sangma said the Meghalaya Youth Policy has been approved and about 10,000 youth would be trained in soft skills. “I have launched a new all-comprehensive skilling program called the ‘Skills Meghalaya’. Under this program, one lakh youth will be trained in various skills for both wage and self employment in the local economy over the next five years,” he said and announced the allocation of Rs 10 crore for the program to cover 10,000 youth. Moreover, the state government is building sports infrastructure across the state and in the past two years 150 grassroots sporting infrastructure are being built. “Apart from encouraging sports among the youth, efforts are also being taken to promote the cultural and creative pursuits of the youth and encourage music, arts, film-making in the state,” Sangma said. Touching on the developmental initiatives being undertaken by the government, the Chief Minister said, it has a huge infrastructure deficit and so the MDA government is trying to bridge this gap. One of the ways to address this deficit is by improving connectivity and the government is constructing 26 major roads at a cost of Rs. 2500 crore and additional efforts are on to connect the rural sector with good roads. On an average, Sangma added the state has built 2 km of road every day during the current fiscal. Stating that the government is making effort to complete long-pending water supply scheme, Sangma said, the government expects to spend Rs. 2,000 crore during 2022-23 on the Jal Jeevan Mission and provide another 3 lakh household tapped water connection by March 2023. In the education sector, he said 208 primary and secondary school buildings are being built with a cost of Rs. 109 crore and another 111 schools would be constructed in 2022-23 at an estimated cost of Rs. 100 crore. For 2022-23, the Chief Minister also proposed outlays for different sectors such as Rs. 101 crore for Transport, Rs. 467 for Power, Rs. 100 crore Home (police), Rs. 120 crore for Information Technology, Rs. 173 for Tourism Rs. 63 for Textile, Rs. 20 for Cooperatives, Rs. 916 crore for Agri and allied sectors. Earlier, Sangma also introduced the Contingency Fund of Meghalaya (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to raise Rs. 905 crore from the Consolidated fund to cover the period till March 31, 2022. RRK BM