Gandhinagar, Feb 26 (IANS): Just ahead of the presentation of the State Budget 2021-22 on March 1, Gujarat Finance Minister and also the Deputy Chief Minister, Nitin Patel on Friday announced launching of a mobile application which will make available to it's users all the details of the Budget. It will ensure hassle-free access to the Budget documents to the lawmakers and the general public.
While launching the Android app, Patel said, "With the consent of the Gujarat state assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi, this a historic step by the finance department to avail this fiscal's budget on an Android app. The entire budget will be available in English and Gujarati languages on this platform. Not only this, but we have also included budget speeches of the past five years in the app."
"The demand for making the budget presentation being transmitted live has also been incorporated into this app, where the users will be able to watch it Live. The way technology is being utilized nowadays, it has helped not only to curb the expenditure wasted on hard copy, but bring in transparency as well," Patel informed.
The deputy chief minister said that due to the application, now the government will be publishing only 20% of the hard copies it used to publish earlier. "Due to this, we will be saving at least Rs 80 lakh," added Patel.
The mobile application will be available on Google Play store for Android users. The budget has been available on the website of the Finance department of the Gujarat government, published every year.
The Android app has been developed by a private software developer for the finance department.