Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh): Launching preparations for the mega international religious-cum-spiritual event- Simhastha Mahaparv-2028- the State government in its budget for the year 2024-2025 has made a provision of Rs 500 crore. A new budget line has been opened for the urban development and housing department according to which sanction of works under Simhastha action plan will be given to 15 departments.
A provision of Rs 5 crore was also made to ensure high quality of work and for the monitoring of projects through technology and appointing experts. Finance Minister Jagdish Devda presented the budget in the State Assembly on Wednesday.
He said that public welfare measures will be meaningful only when we are able to fulfill the hopes, aspirations, and expectations of the poor, destitute, helpless, and the general public lagging behind the mainstream. Many proposals have been given in the budget for the development of Ujjain.
The main points of the budget included the PM E-Bus Scheme and accordingly e-buses will be operated in Ujjain with the help of the Government of India (GoI). Bus depots and charging stations will also be constructed for the project. To promote research in the agricultural sector, it is proposed to establish a gram research institute in Ujjain district.
Ujjain has been selected in the ‘Cities 2.0’ programme competition under Smart City Mission. It will receive an amount of Rs 135 crore from the GoI in the next 3 years. Under Simhastha-2028, all the roads coming to Ujjain city along with the bypass will be made four-lane or eight-lane. 450 km Malwa-Nimar Vikas Path will be constructed through the expressway network.
Industrial corridors will be developed on both sides of it, which will provide employment and self-employment opportunities. Production has started from the 550 MW solar project of Agar district of Ujjain division. This is an unprecedented increase in terms of renewable energy installation capacity. Dewas district of the division will be developed into Green Skilling ITI and Solar Technician and Electric Vehicle Mechanic courses will be started.
The Regional Industry Conclave was organised in Ujjain in March. This will generate an investment of Rs 12,170 crore and provide more than 26,000 new jobs. After the establishment of Medical Device Park in Vikram Udyogpuri, Ujjain, dependence on import of medical devices will reduce.
BKS welcomes budget proposals for agri sector
In the State Budget, the government has allocated a large amount in agricultural schemes like crop insurance, animal husbandry, irrigation, natural farming, and shrianna for the development of agriculture sector. Bharat Singh Bains, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh's (BKS) Malwa province, termed it a positive budget towards the betterment of agriculture sector and increasing the income of farmers.
He said that the agricultural irrigation area will increase with the amount of Rs 44,000 crore in projects like Ken-Betwa Link and Rs 300 crore in PM Irrigation Scheme which will directly benefit the farmers. According to Bains, on the demand of BKS to encourage farmers to do natural farming, the government has allocated an amount of Rs 30 crore for natural farming in the budget for the first time.
Increasing the budget by 76 per cent in the animal husbandry sector, the allocation of Rs 250 crore for cowsheds and Rs 590 crore for animal husbandry and cow rearing will give economic prosperity to animal husbandry farmers and will prove to be an important step towards preventing the problem of stray animals in the agricultural sector. Loans to farmers will continue at zero per cent interest.
