New Delhi: As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present the Union Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on Wednesday, experts from India's urban sector have high expectations from this budget. Speaking to ETV Bharat in an exclusive interview, renowned urban affairs expert KK Pandey said that India's flagship missions like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (urban), Swacch Bharat Mission (SBM-urban), Smart City Mission and AMRUT need more money and more allocations because their performance has been very good.
"Particularly the PMAY and ghar ghar jaal, smart city coverage, IT application in urban governance have been very appreciable," said Pandey, professor (urban management) and coordinator, Centre for Urban Studies, Indian Institute of Public Administration. Stating that the budget for urban and housing affairs in the last budget was Rs 75,000 crore, Pandey expects that in tomorrow's budget, the allocation should be Rs 1 lakh crore.
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The total expenditure of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for 2022-23 was estimated at Rs 76,549 crore. This was an increase of 4 per cent over the revised estimates for 2021-22. In 2022-23, the revenue expenditure for the Ministry has estimated at Rs 49,208 crore (64 per cent of the total expenditure) and the capital expenditure was estimated at Rs 27,341 crore (36 per cent of the total budget).
Referring to the metro train connectivity, Pandey said that the government is also giving special focus on this component. "During the last 10 years, a lot of work has been done on the metro. There were 26 projects in the metro last year and I think more cities will be covered this time," said Pandey.
He also expressed hope that like the welfare schemes for street vendors, other migrant workers should also get some facilities. "Migrant labour was a special focus area for the government and a large part of them has already been covered under PM SVANidhi who has done very appreciable work. Its outreach is very high. I believe other such labourers will also be facilitated this time," said Pandey.
Referring to the real estate sector, Pandey said that government should look into the Rate of Interest in the real estate sector. "The moratorium should also be extended to the real estate sector because housing has multiple effects on employment and income. If we invest in housing, we have more income, jobs and taxes also. At the same time vacancy rate of houses are very high and that needs to be reduced," Pandey said.
