West Bengal Unveils Rs 3.89 Lakh Crore Budget with Enhanced DA and Increased Housing Allocation

Kolkata, Feb 12 (NationPress) As West Bengal approaches crucial Assembly elections next year, Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya unveiled a Rs 3,89,194.09 crore budget for the financial year 2025-26 during the state Assembly session, highlighting an increased dearness allowance and a significant boost to the state's affordable housing scheme for the underprivileged as key features of the budget proposals.

The budget size has been set at Rs 3,66,116 crore.

Bhattacharya declared a rise in the dearness allowance for state government employees by four percentage points, elevating it to 18 per cent from the current 14 per cent. This new rate will be effective from April 1, 2025.

Despite the increase, state government employees expressed dissatisfaction, as the gap with the central government employees’ dearness allowance remains substantial at 35 per cent.

Currently, Union government employees receive a dearness allowance at 53 per cent. This marks the last comprehensive state budget prior to the impending Assembly elections.

Surprisingly, even in this final full budget before elections, there was no proposal to raise the amount allocated under Lakshmir Bhandar, the monthly financial assistance scheme for women in the state.

The payment under this scheme remains unchanged at Rs 1,000 for women in the general category and Rs 1,200 for women in the reserved category.

The sectors that saw significant budgetary increases include housing, road infrastructure, health, and education.

Under the ‘Banglar Bari’ (Bengal’s House) initiative, an additional 16 lakh houses are proposed to be constructed, with an extra Rs 9,600 crore allocated for this scheme.

For road infrastructure development under the ‘Pathashree’ scheme, an additional allocation of Rs 1,500 crore has been proposed.

For higher education, Rs 6,593.58 crore has been earmarked for the fiscal year 2025-26, while Rs 41,153 crore is allocated for school education.

The health sector budget has been set at Rs 21,355 crore for 2025-26, with Rs 44,000 crore designated for rural development and panchayat affairs.

On Wednesday, Bhattacharya also announced that 70,000 accredited social health activists (ASHA) workers will receive smartphones from the state government.

A new initiative named ‘Nadi Bandhan’ was also introduced, focused on protecting riverbanks, with Rs 2,000 crore allocated for this project. An additional Rs 500 crore has been set aside for the construction of a new bridge at Sagar Islands, the site of the annual Gangasagar Mela.