By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, March 15, 2018: The council of Ministers headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik approved a budget of Rs 1.20 lakh crores for the financial year 2018-19 with an emphasis to agriculture and infrastructure development in rural pockets.

The Naveen Patnaik government appears to have worked on pro-poor budget has been made keeping in view the 2019 elections as government has tried to accommodate a number of welfare schemes for addressing the farmers’ agitation, chit fund affected investors and others.

The Budget Session of Odisha Assembly will begin on March 20 and Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera will present the annual budget for the year 2018-19 on March 23, official sources said.

The State government had allocated Rs 1,06,910 crore in the annual budget for the year 2017-18 while Rs 9,828 crore had been allocated in the Supplementary budget in the last financial year.