Da hike: In the budget presented by a state of the country, employees have received the good news of increasing salary. This state is West Bengal. State Finance Minister Chandima Bhattacharya presented a budget of Rs 3.89 lakh crore in the assembly on 12 February. Special attention has been given to social welfare schemes in the budget. Along with this, further increase in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees has also been announced.
This was the last full budget of the Mamata Banerjee government before next year’s assembly elections in West Bengal. In the last budget, Rs 3.67 lakh crore was Allocated to the state. In his budget speech, Bhattacharya said that the West Bengal government will increase the dearness allowance of state government employees by 4 percent from April 1, 2025. This will increase the total dearness allowance of more than 10 lakh employees and pensioners of the state government to 18 percent.
‘Job Creation is the origin of our development model’
In the budget speech, Bhattacharya said that Job Creation is the origin of our development model. By January 2025, the unemployment rate of the country was 7.93 percent, while West Bengal’s unemployment rate was only 4.14 percent. Bhattacharya said that this positive trend was also clear in the October-December 2024 quarter, when West Bengal’s unemployment rate was much lower than the national average. “
He also stated that the continuous economic growth and socio-economic progress of West Bengal helped the government to get 92 lakh people out of poverty by 2021 in the state. This number has now increased to 1.72 crores.
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Another important announcement of West Bengal budget …
- The state government introduced an outline of infrastructure and agricultural development projects in the budget of FY 2025-26, with large funds for rural connectivity, river erosion control and agricultural assistance initiatives.
- Announcement of an allocation of Rs 44,000 crore for rural development and panchayats
- Eloquence of Rs 1,500 crore for improvement of rural roads across the state
- 500 crore rupees approved to build a 4.75 km long bridge over Ganga River in Gangasagar
- Plan to build 16 lakh new houses in the next financial year under the ‘Banglar Bari’ housing project. For this initiative, Rs 9,600 crore has been proposed in the budget.
- The development of roads and infrastructure will continue under the state ‘Pathshri’ project. Additional Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated for this project for the next financial year.
- In West Bengal, Rs 500 crore was Allocated for the project ‘Ghatal Master Plan’ to strengthen the embankments of at least 10 major rivers and clean the river floor. The total cost of the project is Rs 1,500 crore.
- Announcement of a new project named ‘River Bandhan’ for river-centered areas in the state. The project is focused on preventing erosion of the river bank. 200 crore rupees have been allocated for this.
- Announcement of giving smartphones to 70,000 ASHA workers