Presenting his eighth State Budget at noon on Monday, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa allocated Rs 10 crore for a yatri nivas (guest house) in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. The Chief Minister, who holds the finance portfolio, said the yatri nivas will be built for pilgrims visiting Ayodhya from Karnataka.

The grant in Budget 2021-2022 comes in the backdrop of the Ram Temple construction in the city. The UP government on its part assured the grant of a five-acre plot for the building of guest house.

The Karnataka government already runs similar guest houses in other pilgrim centres like Tirupathi.

The Veerashaiva Lingayat community board was allocated Rs 500 crore, of which Rs 100 crore has already been released. A new board will be established for Vokkaliga community which has been Rs 500 crore. The Brahmin development board has been allotted Rs 50 crore and Rs 1,500 crore has been kept for the upliftment of minorities.

The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) witnessed a downfall due to Covid-19 lockdown last year. The GSDP contracted by 2.6% for 2020-21 compared to 2019-20.

The Agriculture sector saw 6.4% growth during 2020-21, industrial sector saw contraction of 5.1% and service sector saw contraction of 3.1%. The share of the state in central taxes came down to Rs 20,053 from the budget estimate of Rs 28,591 for FY 2020-21, Yediyurappa said.

Karnataka will get Rs 24,273 crore as the share of central taxes for financial year 2021-22.