With eyebrows being raised over the lack or absence of toilets in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party Government has sought Rs. 683 crore for building clean toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) programme. The demand for funds to build clean toilets in the rural areas formed an integral part of the Supplementary Demands for the year 2014-2015 of the Uttar Pradesh Government.
The Supplementary Budget of Rs. 14,856.14 crore was presented by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the Vidhan Sabha on Monday.
An additional demand of Rs. 600 crore has been made for strengthening the power distribution network in the State in order to ensure 16 to 18 hours power supply to the rural areas and 22 to 24 hour supply to the urban areas by the year 2016-2017.
Since the last several years, unprecedented power crisis has been witnessed in the State during the summer and monsoon months. The next Assembly elections are due in 2017 and with the power crisis having assumed political overtones, the Chief Minister wanted to ensure that the promise of adequate power supply is fulfilled before 2017.
Another Rs. 100 crore has been sought for strengthening the power transmission network. Considering that the State’s energy sector is confronted with recurring losses, an additional financial demand of Rs. 540 crore has been made in the Supplementary Budget for meeting the losses incurred by the power distribution companies (Discoms) in 2012-2013. A whopping sum of Rs. 800 crore has been sought as subsidy for the operational losses under the Financial Restructuring Programme (FRP) in the financial year 2014-2015. Besides, an additional demand of Rs. 427 crore has been made for giving a grant to the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited for overcoming the revenue loss suffered by the organisation.
While Rs. 350 crore has been sought as additional help to sugar mills for the payment of sugarcane price arrears to the growers, Rs. 468 crore has been demanded for the implementation of Indira Awas Yojana and Rs. 670 crore for implementing the Lohia Gramin Awas Yojana (Lohia Rural Housing Scheme). A demand of Rs. 350 crore has been made for building roads and culverts in the rural areas and Rs. 50 crore for connecting district headquarters with four-lane highways. Besides, Rs.228 crore has been demanded for the “108” “Samajwadi Swastha Sewa”.
In stark contrast to the additional financial demands for funding rural toilets, power, rural housing and road schemes, an additional amount of Rs. 5 crore has been sought for the development of Lion Breeding Centre and Lion Safari Park in Etawah, the Chief Minister’s home district.