Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday read the old state budget speech and only stopped after seven minutes when the chief whip interrupted him.

Following the chief minister's error, the opposition sat in the well of the state assembly, and the House was adjourned for half-an-hour.

The Speaker CP Joshi told the opposition to maintain order, but they continued their uproar. The BJP MLAs again staged a sit-in the well after the adjournment.

Later, Gehlot addressed the opposition in the House, asking them to point out a difference in what's written in the state budget documents in his hand and the copies given to the members of the House. He said if a page was added to his copy by mistake, how is it a matter of leaking of the state budget?

The House Proceedings resumed later with the CM presenting the budget, after he apologised for his error.

Former Rajasthan CM said that when she was the chief minister, she used check the budget documents and speech repeatedly before presenting it in the assembly. She said one can only imagine how safe Rajasthan is in the hands of a chief minister like Gehlot who presents and old state budget.

Rajasthan budget highlights

Here are some of the Rajasthan budget provisions that chief minister Ashok Gehlot mentioned in his speech:

Free power limit extended to 100 units from 50 units

76 lakh families in the state would get LPG cylinders at Rs 500 under the Ujjwala scheme

Beneficiaries of the NFSA would get free food packets every month

A special task force was announced to prevent and investigate question paper leaks

The Rajiv Gandhi Scholarship for scholarship excellence has been extended to 500 beneficiaries from the present 200

Jaipur would have a Rajiv Gandhi Aviation University

-The RTE scheme has been extended to Class XII for boys from the present Class VIII. Free Scooty to meritorious students has been extended to 30,000 from the present 20,000.

The state will also conduct Rajasthan Talent Search Examination

A thousand more Mahatma Gandhi English Medium Schools would be built

Rs 10 lakh accidental insurance compensation under Chiranjeevi Yojana from the present Rs 5 lakh

Rs 200 crore under the gig workers welfare fund scheme

Jodhpur, Kota and Jaipur would have psychological centres

Indira Gandhi Working Women's hostel announced

2 pairs of uniforms for children of anganwadi workers

The Rajasthan Legislative Assembly's budget session began on January 23 and is the last full budget to be presented by the Congress-led government as the state heads to elections this year.

The state government put up hoardings with the tagline "Bachat, rahat, badhat" translating to "Saving, relief, progress" in Jaipur on Tuesday, ahead of the budget announcement.

Gehlot had told reporters in January that the budget would focus on youths and students.

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First Published:Feb 10, 2023 12:10 PM IST