Uttarakhand Assembly Passes Annual Budget Amid Walkout By Opposition Members

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Assembly passed the state"s annual budget of over Rs 65,500 crore for 2022-23 on Friday amid a walkout by the opposition over the "Agnipath" military recruitment scheme.Pandemonium ensued in the House as soon as the debate on prolonged and unscheduled power cuts in the state was over, with the Congress MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya, trooping down to the well.They raised slogans against the BJP-led Centre and demanded immediate withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme.The scheme will ruin the future of the country"s youngsters as they will be rendered jobless after four years, they alleged.Speaker Ritu Khanduri took up the passage of the budget, which was pre-scheduled, even as the opposition MLAs kept standing in the well, shouting slogans.The Congress members staged a walkout subsequently even as the budget was in the process of being passed.After walking out of the Assembly, Arya also raised the issue of police resorting to lathicharge in Haldwani on youngsters protesting against the Agnipath scheme."At the behest of the state government, police thrashed the youngsters who were protesting peacefully against the scheme. Some of them even had to be hospitalised," Arya said.The budget with an aim to empower the weak, including elderly people, women and differently-abled people, was tabled in the Assembly on the opening day of its budget session on June 14.The highest allocation of Rs 1,500 crore was proposed in the budget for the payment of pensions to elderly people, widows without anyone to depend on, abandoned women, differently-abled people and economically weak farmers.An amount of Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the Nanda Gaura Yojana, a scheme promoting the education of the girl child. Under the scheme, the parents of a girl child will be paid Rs 11,000 at the time of her birth and Rs 51,000 when she passes the Class-12 exams.Presenting the budget in the House on Tuesday, Finance Minister Prem Chand Aggrawal had said it is the flagbearer of the state government"s priorities that include a robust fiscal discipline and management, good governance and effective implementation of the sustainable development goals.After the passage of the budget, the Assembly was adjourned sine die. —PTI