Goa: Assembly's Five-Day Budget Session to Begin Today

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stated Tuesday that the state's budget for 2023-24 will be presented, and that the Assembly will not meet on March 30 due to Ram Navami.

On Saturday (March 25), Sawant tweeted that the draft of the 'Goa Restriction on Transfer of Agricultural Land Bill 2023', which seeks to place limitations on the transfer of agricultural property in order to preserve and protect paddy farming, had been accepted by the state cabinet.

Meanwhile, opposition parties have chastised the state government for shortening the Assembly session. Many crore rupees spent on self-glorification events and marketing, according to Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao, would be revealed in the future Assembly session.

"The session will reveal the actual face of the BJP's failed government. It will be demonstrated that the BJP government is shortening the session rather than cutting unnecessary spending," he remarked.

Sawant submitted a Rs 24,467 crore budget for 2022-23 during the last budget following the 2022 assembly elections, with a focus on job creation and making Goa self-sufficient. Sawant has now finished negotiations with stakeholders, and the finance department has finished the budget process.

The CM is finalizing the draft before presenting it to the assembly. During the budget session, the government will approve many important measures, including one prohibiting the sale of agricultural land to non-farmers from outside the state and another authorizing the government to buy comunidade land for public use.

As of now, the state government has produced Rs 14,000 crore in various collections and has paid off roughly Rs 800 crore in outstanding loans. The state has borrowed Rs 1,500 crore so far, with a borrowing limit of Rs 3,700 crore. 

The government anticipates revenue receipts of roughly Rs 1,000 crore through March 31. The government predicted an income of Rs 650 crore from mining in the previous budget, but this time it would have larger hopes because it has begun auctioning mining blocks to reignite the industry.