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| Kerala Budget projects Rs 3630 cr revenue deficit |
| BS Reporter / Chennai/ Kochi Mar 06, 2010, 00:53 IST |
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Proposes Rs 50,000-crore rapid rail corridor; Rs 1,000-crore ‘green’ fund.
The Kerala Budget has proposed to set up a public–private initiative to build a rapid rail corridor with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore. While the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has been entrusted with the task of preparing the report, a joint venture company will be formed this year.
Presenting the state Budget for 2010-11 on Friday in the Assembly, state finance minister Thomas Issac said the government would also set up a separate company, in line with the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), to build a new airport at Kannur. The paid-up share capital of the company will be Rs 1,000 crore, of which 26 per cent will be incurred by the state government.
The Budget estimates an additional revenue of Rs 874.14 crore and an additional expense of Rs 874.60 crore, making the total expenses to Rs 34,810.37 crore in 2010-11. The total revenue is estimated at Rs 31,180.82 crore, leaving a revenue deficit of Rs 3,629.55 crore. The fiscal deficit has been pegged at 3.12 per cent of the gross state domestic product in the next financial year. The cumulative deficit for the year 2010-11 is Rs 577.09 crore.
The Budget, which can be termed as a ‘popular budget’ in the light of elections to the local bodies, also earmarked Rs 125 crore for the proposed Vizhinjam International Seaport near Thiruvananthapuram. In an initiative to enhance the allocation to various infrastructure projects, it also proposed an investment of Rs 17 crore to lay gas pipeline for retail distribution of LNG in association with GAIL.
Welfare schemes
Announcing a number of welfare measures, Issac enhanced the minimum pension for the poor and weaker sections to Rs 300 per month from the current Rs 250. The government will also distribute rice to 3.5 million poor families, mainly working in traditional sectors like agriculture, fishing and coir at Rs 2 per kg. The Budget earmarked for this initiative is Rs 500 crore.
Green fund
The Budget also proposed to set up a special Green fund for safeguarding environment with a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years. It has allocated Rs 100 crore for the first phase of the project. The project would mainly focus on enhancing the forest area and provide fund for afforestation initiatives. He also said there would be compulsory energy audit for industries working in the state and heavy penalty will be imposed on those who fail in energy auditing.
As a token towards gender budgeting, the 2010 Budget allocated Rs 620 crore, higher by 8.5 per cent, towards all women development initiatives like Kudumbashree. Allocation to agriculture has been enhanced from Rs 419 crore to Rs 622 crore. Bio-metric identity cards will be issued to all types of pensioners.
It also proposed to set up a mega IT project under the behest of Infopark, Kochi, which will provide employment to around 100,000 IT professional. IT parks at Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram will be developed with an investment of Rs 70 crore. A separate university for medical education will be set up in 2010 -11.
PTI adds
While continuing with most of the schemes under the Rs 10,000-crore stimulus package unveiled last year during the slowdown, Isaac announced fresh sops for the crisis-hit tourism sector by slashing the luxury tax.
Luxury tax on tourism, a major revenue earner, was brought down to 7.5 per cent and 12.5 per cent in different categories from 10 per cent and 15 per cent. It also left VAT rates untouched but proposed a 10 per cent hike in tax on liquor other than beer and wine.
The Budget also sought to rationalise stamp duty and increased lifetime tax to 8 per cent for new motor cars and mini buses for private use, where engine capacity is 1500 cc and above.
A lifetime tax of six per cent ad valorem on all types of construction equipment vehicles was also imposed. Direct-to-home service was brought under the tax net, with a levy of one per cent tax on gross charges paid by customers.
To protect small scale cable TV operators, it exempted those having less than 5,000 connections from luxury tax. The Budget proposed to regularise conversion of paddy land into commercial land in revenue records prior to 2008 by levying a fee on the basis of newly fixed fair value of land.This will come into force from April next.
Another proposal was to mobilise revenue from sand and silt mining from dams.
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