The 4-day Budget session of Tripura Legislative Assembly began today in state capital Agartala. This is the first Budget session of the BJP government that came into power for the second successive term in March this year under the leadership of Senior BJP leader and chief minister Dr. Manik Saha.
State finance minister, Pranajit Singha Roy presented the deficit budget of 611.3 crore. He said, the total Budget allocation for fiscal year 2023-24 is Rs. 27654.40 crore which is an increase of 9.87 per cent over the Revised Estimate 2022-23. The capital expenditure is projected at Rs. 5358.70 crore with an increase of 22.28 percent over the RE 2022-23. The state finance minister said, this Budget is a blue print for things to come in future and make Tripura a developed state. He expressed hope that this Budget will play an important role for the overall welfare of the people of the state and for implementation of the same.
Stating that the Government is very sensitive to medical needs of the people of Tripura, Mr. Singha Roy introduced CM-Jana Arogya Yojana(CM-JAY), 2023, a universal health insurance scheme on the pattern of Ayushman Bharat launched by Central Government. He said, CM-JAY will cover remaining 4.75 lakh families in the state and provide insurance benefit upto 5 lakh rupees per annum per family. The scheme will cover state government employees as well. The Government will spend Rs. 59 crore per annum on this scheme.
Uproarious scenes were witnessed on day one as Opposition parties led by TIPRA Motha, Congress and CPI(M) staged demonstrations to suspend Bagbasa MLA of the BJP, Jadablal Nath for allegedly watching an objectionable video clip in the House during the last legislative assembly session.
The unruly behaviour by three TIPRA Motha party MLAs and one each from Congress and CPI (M) legislators when the Budget speech was read by finance minister Pranajit Singha Roy prompted Speaker Bishwa Bandu Sen to suspend these MLAs for the day. Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha had moved the motion to suspend these MLAs which was passed by the Speaker
