The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed grants amounting to ₹59,431.23 lakh for the General Administration Department (GAD), ₹56,009.69 lakh for Planning, ₹14,183.38 lakh for Information, ₹12,47,727.65 lakh for the Power Development Department (PDD), ₹62,70,347.94 lakh for Finance, ₹7,083.77 lakh for Parliamentary Affairs, ₹76,284.53 lakh for the Law Department (excluding the Election Department), ₹81,073.94 lakh for Revenue, ₹4,06,130.30 lakh for Housing & Urban Development (H&UDD), ₹61,280.18 lakh for Tourism, ₹46,683.86 lakh for Hospitality, Protocol & Estates, ₹20,459.31 lakh for Culture, and ₹1,96,369.04 lakh for Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction (DMRRR). The grants were passed following three days of extensive discussions in the House.
The CM in his speech announced the extension of the amnesty scheme but stressed that frequent waivers are unfair to those who pay their bills on time.
“We have given amnesty multiple times, but we must not continue this indefinitely. It is unfair to those who pay regularly,” he said.
He proposed a new scheme that would offer incentives on outstanding dues in proportion to future payments, encouraging a culture of timely bill payments. He also reiterated the importance of metering to improve revenue collection and reduce losses.
The Chief Minister addressed concerns over MLAs’ salaries, noting that it had not been revised in ten years. He suggested forming a committee comprising leaders of political parties to implement a structured salary revision mechanism based on the parliamentary model. He also proposed aligning the CDF guidelines with the MPLADS framework for better fund utilization.
While acknowledging the demand for an increase in CDF allocations, he stated that a reasonable enhancement crore would be considered to increase it from Rs 3 to Rs 4 crore for each MLA.