Parrikar presents Budget after getting discharged

Panaji, Feb. 22: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday presented in the state Assembly a `17,123-crore budget for 2018-19, an increase of 6.84 per cent over the ongoing fiscal, with a stress on education and job creation.

Parrikar, who was undergoing treatment at a Mumbai hospital for a pancreatic ailment, returned here on Thursday afternoon.

The Chief Minister was present in the Assembly complex for half an hour, during which he chaired a meeting of his Cabinet, tabled the budget and witnessed the passage of vote-on-account for five months.

The budget session was curtailed to four days owing to Parrikar’s illhealth. In his speech in the House which lasted only five minutes, Parrikar said he could not present an elaborate budget because of his ill-health but would make a supplementary statement before the end of the current financial year.

The gross total budgetary expenditure is `17,123.28 crore for the coming fiscal as against `16,027.01 crore for 201718, an increase of 6.84 per cent.

The total estimated expenditure on revenue account is `11,795.40 crore, while that on capital account is `4,218.25 crore.

The allocation for capital account expenditure has been increased by 10.70 per cent against the revised estimate for the last year, which stood at `3,808.72 crore.

Parrikar said that overall, for FY 2018-19, the annual financial statement indicates a revenue surplus for the fifth year in succession.

“The revenue surplus is estimated at `144.65 crore,” he said. — PTI