Supplementary demands for Rs 3,000 crore passed

Thiruvananthapuram: The supplementary demands for grants in the 2017-18 Budget for Rs 3,000 crore was passed in the Assembly on Wednesday. 

Finance minister Dr T.M. Thomas Isaac, while replying to the discussion, said that Rs 2,300 crore, or more than 76 per cent of the amount, has already been spent, including for the additional requirement for welfare pensions over and above the budgeted allocation.

“This Onam, for the first time ever, there will be no pension arrears. Even farmers pension arrears will be paid,” the finance minister said. Dr Isaac said that the demand for supplementary grants had been made also for the matching grants that the state had to keep apart for various flagship central schemes like ICDS, ICPS, and MGNREGS. 

Then, minor amounts have been kept as token provisions for all the schemes announced in the Budget. 

“Unlike in earlier times, all schemes will get a head of account,” the finance minister said.

Dr Isaac said that the LDF government’s strategy was to increase social welfare spending even while attempting to give an unprecedented boost to investment. “All this while, Kerala was known for her social advancement. Now, our objective is to transform Kerala into the fastest growing state in the country,” Dr Isaac said.

Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board is the tool for this, the minister said. In the first year itself, the state government has announced projects worth Rs 50,000 crore to be taken up for the course of the next four years. He said that projects worth Rs 6,000 crore had already reached the tender stage. The Opposition had not taken part in the discussion as they had boycotted proceedings after Question Hour demanding that health minister K.K. Shylaja step down.