Gujarat presents no-new tax budget

The Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party government presented a Rs 3.32 lakh crore budget that imposed no new taxes while providing a little relief of around Rs55 crore in the stamp duty.  Finance Minister Kanubhai Desai presented the budget for 2024-25 in the Assembly on the second day of the Budget Session in Gandhinagar.
Desai informed the House that the budget outlay of Rs 3,32,465 crore for 2024-25 indicates an increase of Rs31,444 crore, or 10.44% over the previous fiscal.The state government presented the budget with an estimated surplus of Rs 146.72 crore and proposed no new taxes.In his budgetary address, Desai announced a host of schemes and projects and said the state government kept GYAN - 'Garib' (the poor), 'Yuva' (youth), 'Annadata' (farmer) and 'Nari Shakti' (women power) - at the core while preparing the budget.
The finance minister also announced the conversion of seven municipalities - Navsari, Gandhidham, Morbi, Vapi, Anand, Mehsana and Surendranagar-Wadhwan - into municipal corporations.He also announced the ‘Jan Rakshak’ scheme wherein all the emergency services, including police and fire brigade, can be accessed centrally by dialling 112.The state budget also provides for the extension of the existing riverfront on Sabarmati till GIFT-City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City) in Gandhinagar in Phases 4 and 5.

( Ira singh, Asstt Editor, Gandhinagar)