With Gujarat going to the polls later this year, Finance Minister Kanu Desai presented the BJP government’s final budget on Thursday, deciding not to levy new taxes and allocating the most money to education.
The budget projected a total surplus of Rs 560.09 crore. Desai presented a budget of around Rs 2.5 lakh crores, with no new taxes imposed on the general public. The current tax rates will remain unchanged.
The minister announced the establishment of three new medical colleges in Botad, Veraval, and Jam Khambhalia. The minister announced a complete exemption from professional taxation for middle-class families earning up to Rs 12,000 per month. The announcement states that 15 lakh middle-class taxpayers will receive Rs 198 crore in tax relief.
Salary earners earning Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,999 per month and Rs 9,000 to Rs 11,999 per month are required to pay Rs 80 and Rs 150 per month in professional tax, respectively, under the current professional tax structure.
The Assembly also saw discussions on the fate of Gujarati students caught in the Ukraine-Russia war. Many students from the state are in Ukraine for medical studies and are trapped in a war-torn country. The state government announced three new medical colleges in response to questions from the opposition about their well-being. According to the government, there are 31 medical colleges in operation, with 5,700 MBBS and 2,000 PG seats.
The state government intends to spend Rs 106 crore to build ultra-modern facilities in government medical colleges in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, and Surat in order to provide high-quality healthcare services. It also intends to establish a medical university for research and higher education.