TN’s fiscal deficit to decline to 3.80 from 4.33 per cent: Palanivel Thiagarajan
Tamil Nadu’s Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan said that the state’s fiscal deficit is set to decline to 3.80% from 4.33% in the budget estimates for the year 2021-22. Presenting the budget speech for the year 2022-23 in the Assembly Hall in Fort St. George, Thiagarajan said that the revenue deficit is set to decrease by Rs 7,000 crore.
Thiagarajan announced a slew of measures including the allocation of Rs 500 crore for the ‘Singara Chennai 2.0’ project aiming at flood-mitigation, allocation of Rs 2,800 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme for the financial year 2022-23.
The finance minister also said that the scheme to provide free travel to women across the state implemented by CM MK Stalin was successful.
“The Chief Minister’s free travel scheme has increased the proportion of female passengers from 40 per cent to 60 per cent,” he added.
During his speech, Thiagarajan also said that Stalin had requested the Centre for extension of the GST compensation period, which ends in June 2022, by two years. The Tamil Nadu government will also set up a new social media monitoring cell within the state Police Department to tackle the menace of hatred on social media.