Key Points of Assam Budget For FY 2022-23

Guwahati: Assam Finance Minister Ajanta Neog presented the state budget for the year on Wednesday, as the fiscal year 2022-23 began.

The state budget for the year was presented to the Assam Legislative Assembly amid a reduction of Covid-19 cases in India and the state, as well as worldwide economic turmoil induced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Here are the key points of Assam Budget:

1. Pakipath Nirman Achani, Unnoti Pakipath Nirman Achani, Mothauri Pokikaran Achani, and Path Nobikaran Achani are four new road construction schemes announced for the construction, upgradation, and maintenance of all-weather roads, including those on embankments.
2. With the support of the Indian government and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), two significant bridges will be built over the Subansiri at Dhunaguri and Luit. A bridge connecting Majuli, Bihpuria, and Nemati is also being built. To improve the usability of the bridge over the Brahmaputra, Trumpet Junction would be developed in Gauripur, North Guwahati.
3. Four highways under Asom Mala will be improved in 2022-23, with 19 new road over bridges being built. A new flyover project in Dibrugarh’s Mancota Road and a new elevated road in Guwahati’s GNB Road are both in the works.
4. The value added tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for aircraft will be reduced by 1%. Proposal to launch a new scheme to make air travel from Guwahati to Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Silchar, and Tezpur more affordable.
5. New airports in Karbi Anglong and Silchar, as well as three new heliports in Nagaon, Geleki, and Haflong, are proposed. Active involvement with the Indian government in the development of a greenfield airport at Diphu. De-notification of 180 acres of forest land for the development of Rupsi Airport is the subject of a joint survey.
6. 156 crores for the acquisition of 50 acres of land for Jorhat Airport, 50 crores for the acquisition of 870 acres of land for Greenfield Airport in Silchar, and 3.56 crore for the acquisition of 84 acres of land for Lilabari Airport in North Lakhimpur.
7. Umananda, Uzan Bazar, Kurua, Guijan, Ghaghor, Kachari, Goalpara, North Guwahati, Aphalamukh, Neemati Ghat, Matmora, and Disangmukh will be developed by the Assam Inland Water Transport Development Society on National Waterway 2 on the Brahmaputra.
8. Bordowa Than in Narayanpur and Gangmou Satra are both working on projects to maintain Eksarana Dharma.
9. Patbaushi Satra is planning a new project. Each of the 1,260 namghars in Assam Darshan Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra will receive a 2.5 lakh grant to help fund the construction of a fourth auditorium, which will cost a total of 5 crores.
10. Preservation and beautification of Hollongapar’s Lachit Borphukan Samadhi, as well as a digital documentary video and lectures in Delhi and Mumbai. A budget of Rs. 7 crores have been been aside for the Alaboi War Memorial, which will commemorate 10,000 Ahom martyrs.
11. Maniram Dewan Samadhi and Gomdhar Konwar Samadhi in Jorhat will be rebuilt, and the Jorhat Jail will be developed as a North East Freedom Fighters Memorial Park. To lure international tourists, a light and sound spectacle would be staged at Rang Ghar in Sivasagar.
12. A total of Rs. 15 crores have been set aside for the acquisition of land for the Pratima Pandey Barua Museum in Gauripur, Dhubri, in order to preserve the memories of the legendary folk singer and promote Goalparia folk song.
13. The APSC will fill 13,572 Class III and 13,787 Class IV vacancies, as well as 3,587 Grade I and 1,568 Grade II positions. To reach the aim of 1 lakh jobs, compassionate appointments for 930 positions in the Education Department and the Sixth Schedule Areas would be finalised soon.
14. Incentives under Category-1 of the Assam Micro Finance Incentive and Relief Scheme (AMFIRS) would be distributed in the remaining 7 Assam districts before Bohag Bihu. The government will pay overdue sums owed to Category-2 borrowers and clear outstanding debt owed to Category-3 borrowers whose accounts have become non-performing assets. A total budget of 2,500 crores has been set aside for the project.
15. From the following financial year, Orunodoi support will be increased to $1,250 per month, with an extra $250 subsidy for 50 units of electricity. From the Bodoland Territorial Region, an extra six lakh beneficiaries would be added.
16. Proposal to hold a North-East Indigenous and Tribal Culture and Games Festival to showcase indigenous culture to a global audience. A total of ten crores has been set aside for this purpose. Ten colleges in the Bodoland Territorial Region will also be provincialized.
17. To improve educational opportunities, the state government will take over 436 schools in tea garden areas. From May 10, 2022, 117 Model High Schools in gardens will be active. By 2022-23, the remaining 2.9 lakh households under the Jal Jeevan Mission would be covered.
18. Mission Zero Drop-Out was launched to identify and map disadvantaged girl children, as well as create customised strategies to give child-specific interventions including conditional cash transfers.
19. In 800 tea gardens, Mahaprabhu Jagannath Community and Skill Centre is training tea tribal youth and organising community events. Disinvestment strategy for Assam Tea Corporation Limited, as well as payment of outstanding provident fund liabilities worth 142.5 crores by 2023-24.
20. In the current budget, there is a total of Rs. 25 crores set aside for the holistic development of Tai Ahom, Moran, Matak, Chutia, and Koch-Rajbongshi. Under the Sixth Schedule, entitlement grants are transferred to councils under a single head of account.
21. OBC communities should have their own authorised organisations in charge of recommending caste certificates to their members. Under the Assam Land Policy, 2019, it is proposed to enable up to 50 bigha per tribal household by abolishing the upper limit of 8 bigha.
22. Free textbooks, hostel mess dues waiver, entrance fee waiver for BPL students, scooters to meritorious students, 10,000 mobility grants to girls, and education loan under the Abhinandan and Anundoram Barooah Awards are all part of the Pragyan Bharati scheme.
23. Aarohan was revived with the goal of providing exposure to prominent academic institutions such as IIT Guwahati to girls and boys who achieved first place in Class IX. Every student will receive $2,000 as a book and mobility stipend, with a total allocation of $1 lakh per district.
24. Using the Miyawaki concept, Seuj Axom Abhijan plans to expand green cover in Assam from 36% to 38% in five years. Assam Agro-Forestry Development Board is established. Guwahati will introduce 200 electric vehicles and 100 CNG buses as part of a Smart City project worth Rs. 250 crores.
25. In the districts of Golaghat, Nagaon, Biswanath, and Sonitpur, 241 anti-poaching camps were renovated. For Rs 4,865 crore, a 35-kilometer elevated corridor would be built between Kaziranga and Karbi Anglong to ensure the safe transit of animals. There will be nine elephant corridors that will be notified.
26. Kaziranga National Park has acquired 832 hectares of land. For land compensation to 1,085 affected people, the government has set aside Rs 48.08 crore. The Eco-Sensitive Zone of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve has been completed.
27. Seven new cancer hospitals will be built in Dibrugarh, Barpeta, Kokrajhar, Tezpur, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, and Darrang between 2022 and 2023. A robotic surgery unit worth Rs 15 crore has been allocated to the State Cancer Institute, GMCH.
28. Three new medical colleges are proposed for Sivasagar, Karimganj, and Goalpara, as well as a super-specialty hospital at IIT Guwahati. Medical colleges will be built at Dhemaji, Bongaigon, Morigaon, Golaghat, and Tamulpur this year.
29. The development of 1,000 Buniyadi Swasthya Kendras and the upgrading of 200 sub-centres will help to expand primary healthcare. Ayurvedic colleges will be established at Dudhnoi and Palashbari. Each medical college has a BSc Nursing College and a GNM Nursing School.
30. For a total of 3,798 crore, district hospitals in Barpeta, Silchar, Diphu, Jorhat, Tezpur, and Lakhimpur will be upgraded to super-specialty hospitals. Sneha Sparsh Plus is a scheme that covers the costs of rehabilitation for children with cerebral palsy.
31. Mission Basundhara 2.0 has been introduced to provide land-related services of the future. This will allow the proper owner to receive land revenue and utilise the land as collateral to unlock the value of the land.
32. All post-retirement benefits, including GPF, Gratuity, Leave Encashment, and GIS, will be provided to state government employees through a single window interface.
33. 89 crores set aside for interest subvention for state government employees under the Apun Ghar and Bidyalakshmi schemes, which offer subsidised interest rates.
34. For state government employees, a dedicated IT portal will be developed to streamline the medical reimbursement procedure.
35. Empaneled hospitals will be phased out, allowing employees to seek care at any facility of their choosing.
36. For the promotion of natural farming, extensive training and demonstration are provided. Millets will be honoured as the International Year of Millets in 2023. The formation of the Fodder Mission was proposed.
37. With a budget of ten crores, Assam Seed Corporation Limited and the Directorate of Agriculture have set up 40 seed farms. For the Kharif Marketing Season 2022-23, a decentralised procurement scheme would be implemented, with 150 paddy procurement centres and at least 30 rice receiving depots.
38. In addition to the 11% already paid to state government employees and retirees, Dearance Allowance will be increased by 3%.
39. Bhasha Gourab Scheme, which distributes corpus funding to 21 indigenous Sahitya Sabhas and one-time support to authors under Lekhak Sambardhana, will receive 28.80 crores.
40. Mukhya Mantri Souro Shakti Prokolpo has been allocated Rs 4000 crores to promote clean energy generation by establishing solar power generation plants with a total installed capacity of 1,000 Mega Watts.
41. The Lower Kopili Hydroelectric Project, with a capacity of 120 MW, will cost Rs 2,127 crores. On the Borpani River, two 46.5 MW projects are now under construction. The 10MW Namrup Replacement Power Project Phase-II and the 100MW Namrup Gas Engine Project each have a budget of Rs. 2500 crores.
42. To encourage industrial growth, a new Industrial and Investment Policy will be implemented in 2022. Under the new strategy, hospitals, hotels, and cruise services, as well as shipbuilding and vehicle scrap processing facilities, will be included in the industrial sector and will be eligible for various incentives.
43. The following colleges will be promoted to universities: Sibsagar College, Kokrajhar Government College, Bongaigaon College, Jagannath Barooah College, North Lakhimpur College, Handique Girls’ College, and Nagaon College. Grants-in-aid of ten crores to each college for construction expenditures.
44. Majuli University, Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhattadev University, Madhabdev University, Birangana Sati Sadhini State University, and Aniruddhadev Sports University each received 50 crores from the NIDA Fund.
45. Gauhati University will receive Rs. 25 crores for its start-up ecosystem. Assam University, Tezpur University, and Silchar University each received 15 crores. Assam Agriculture University would receive a sum of Rs. 25 crores. TISS Guwahati will receive 15 crores, while IIIT Guwahati would receive 10 crores.
46. A total of ten crores has been set aside for the construction of a science block at Haflong College. Grant-in-aids for Srimanta Sankardeva Vishwa Vidyalaya’s salary payment of 75%. Faculty members have the option of withdrawing their pay in 12 equal instalments, with no limit.
47. Mukhya Mantri Vikas aru Niyog Asoni will establish a Youth Commission. Candidates will be enrolled in intensive training for employment in all India/State/ Civil services/SSC/ Banking/ Insurance sectors/ Public Sector Undertakings/ Central Armed Police Forces.
48. Amrit Guwahati Integrated Global City (Amrit GiG City) is a new-age, world-class integrated business city being created in Guwahati. It will be spread out across 1,000 acres and will be equipped with world-class infrastructure for next-generation industries.