Budget session of the state assembly to commence from March 13 with governor’s address

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, March 3, 2026

The budget session of the state assembly is likely to commence from March 13, Friday and transact legislative business till March 18 , Wednesday for only four working days-except Satuday and Sunday. Despite persistent criticism over short duration of assembly sessions from the opposition and demand for longer sessions the government side is reportedly preparing to hold a brief four day session. Since the budget is going to be the first session of the assembly this year, it will open with the statutory address of the governor and the governor’s speech , finally approved by the council of ministers, as required, is now being printed in the government press in the Bardowali area.

Even though the business to be transacted in the assembly will be finalised in a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) which is yet to sit for its assigned job, the minister for finance Pranjit Singha Roy is holding consultations with ministers of various departments and their senior officers before finalising the allocations of the respective departments. Sources said that since the government confronts major financial constraints there will be no significant increase in the allocations for various departments. Besides, there is the problem of unspent funds given to various departments for the current financial year that is ending on March 31. Sources said that an austerity drive curtail government expenses is also on and this may lead to insignificant rise in departmental allocations. However , the government is hopeful of an impressive rise in allocation of funds from the 16th finance commission that will be effective from April 1 this year.

Meanwhile, sources from the state secretariat said that the chief minister Dr Manik Saha may announce a 3% dearness allowance for serving employees and dearness relief for the pensioners in the session in view of the upcoming election to the ADC, scheduled to be held in the month of April. They added that the chief minister was keen to give a big instalment of DA and DR to employees and pensioners in October last year but was barred from proceeding in the matter by the union finance ministry . He is likely to announce the 3% DA and DR to partially neutralise the widening gap in DA payment between state and Centre.

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