Kolkata, Feb 12 : Amid the crucial Assembly polls due next year in West Bengal, Minister of State for Finance Chandrima Bhattacharya, on Wednesday, presented a Rs 3,89,194.09 crore budget for the financial year 2005-26 at the floor of the state Assembly with enhanced dearness allowance and higher budgetary allocation for the state's own affordable housing scheme for the poor being the main attractions of the budget proposals.

The budget size was Rs 3,66,116 crore.

Bhattacharya announced an increase in the dearness allowance for the state government employees by four percentage points to 18 per cent from the current rate of 14 per cent. The new rate will be applicable from April 1, 2025.

However, the enhancement has not made the state government employees happy considering that even after the increase, the gap with the dearness allowance enjoyed by the central government employees remains quite high at 35 per cent.

The Union government employees are currently receiving a dearness allowance at the rate of 53 per cent. This is the last full state budget before the Assembly election due next year.

However, what has come as a surprise for many is that, although largely expected, even in the last full budget before the Assembly elections, there was no proposal for an increase in the amount paid under Lakshmir Bhandar, the monthly dole scheme for women in the state.

The amount paid under the scheme will remain the same -- Rs 1,000 for women in the general category and Rs 1,200 for the women under the reserved category.

The main sectors where the budgetary allocations had been substantially increased include housing, road infrastructure, health and education.

Under 'Banglar Bari' (Bengal's House), the state government's own affordable housing scheme for the poor, a proposal was mooted to construct 16 lakh additional houses and hence an additional Rs 9,600 crore has been allocated for the scheme.

For the development of road infrastructure under the 'Pathashree' scheme, an additional allocation of Rs 1,500 crore has been made in the budget proposals.

For higher education, budgetary allocation for 2025-26 has been earmarked at Rs 6,593.58 crore, while an amount of Rs 41,153 crore has been set aside for school education.

The budgetary allocation for the health sector has been announced at Rs 21,355 crore for 2025.26. The allocation for the fiscal under review for rural development and panchayat affairs has been fixed at 44,000 crore.

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

She also announced a new scheme christened 'Nadi Bandhan', aimed at the prevention of river banks at different river banks and allocated Rs 2000 crore for that project. An amount of Rs 500 crore was allocated for the construction of a new bridge at Sagar Islands, the venue for the annual Gangasagar Mela.

/IANS