Itanagar, July 25 (Reporter) The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passed the annual budget for the fiscal year 2024–25 on Thursday following a marathon discussion before Speaker Tesam Pongte adjourned the house sine-die. The Budget Estimates (BE) for FY 2024–25 has been pegged at Rs 35,840.79 crore, which is 20.85 percent more than the BE for FY 2023–24. “Before the BJP government came to power in the state, the Budget size in the years 2015–16 was around Rs 12,500 crore, which has mounted to over Rs 35,800 crore in 2024–25,” said Chief Minister Pema Khandu while participating in the Budget discussion. Acknowledging the members’ observations and feedback on this year’s budget, the CM said: “We have already laid the foundation of ‘Viksit Arunachal’ in lines with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, and I hope we will be able to achieve the target of ‘Viksit Arunachal’ during the next 10 to 15 years.” Khandu said that the government has adopted the ‘bottom-up’ approach in the planning process, thereby empowering the districts. Since youths are the future of the state, he said, the government has declared 2024–25 the “Year of Youth.” To meet the shortage of teachers in the schools, the government had come up with a scheme Mukhya Mantri Shiksha Kosh, as a temporary measure since the APPSC was not in place. Through it, nearly 773 teachers have already been posted at schools, and 200 more are to be added. He informed that the government would entirely sponsor any APST student whoever bags a seat at the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology). He further informed that even at the international level, if any APST student gets admission in any university that is within the 150 QS World University ranking, the state would sponsor 75% of the total expenses, and even if the student was unable to bear the remaining 25%, the government would gladly sponsor the remaining 25% as well. The CM assured renovation of dilapidated structures in a phase-wise manner as the government would focus on infrastructure development in the coming 5 years. This year, under PMGSY-III, 645.52 km of road have been sanctioned with an investment of Rs 665 crore. Also, under the Vibrant Villages Programme, 105 km of road have been sanctioned, covering around 122 villages, the tendering process for which is under way. Moreover, within the interstate highway project, 2878 km of new highway will be constructed, and the tendering process has been initiated for the same, the CM added. Since the state exchequer spends a lot in paying a huge amount of funds to service holders (regular, contractual, contingency workers), pensioners, and for developmental activities, income generation is the need of the hour for the government. Before winding up the discussion, Khandu emphatically said that monitoring needs to be stepped up and said that to ensure quality work for big infrastructure projects, the government would start third-party monitoring by joining forces with an independent agency. Deputy CM and Minister of Finance Chowna Mein said that healthy human resources, robust infrastructure, and a vibrant economy were the three pillars of the budget estimate for 2024–25. The whole budget has been framed around these three pillars, he said. He said the government aims to nurture the youth for the bright future of the state and set the target of strengthening governance, ease of living and business, administrative reforms, connectivity, social security, etc. Mein, who is also the Minister in- Charge of Power, stated that the state government is committed to building the big dams in the state, including the 11,000 MW Siang dam. “Hydro security is our prime duty,” he said. He further added that hydropower projects would generate employment, boost tourism, and generate revenue for the state. Before the adjournment of the Assembly, the House witnessed voting on Demands for Grants for FY 2024–25, the introduction, and the passing of the Arunachal Pradesh Appropriation (No. 2) Bill, 2024, without any discussion...////...