Space gets Rs 1,048 cr, atomic power Rs 498 cr more over previous year

Chennai, Feb 2 (IANS) India’s space sector has got an additional Rs 1,048.43 crore in the Union budget for 2017-18 presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The Department of Space (DOS) got a net allocation of Rs 9,093.71 crore for the next fiscal, up from Rs 8,045.28 crore as per the revised budget estimate for 2016-17, the minister said on Wednesday.

Of the total allocation, Rs 8,324.37 crore is for central sector schemes that include technology, applications, sciences relating to space and for the INSAT satellite Systems.

The capital outlay for space research is Rs 4,155.38 crore for next fiscal up from Rs 3,576.49 crore for 2016-17.

The country’s other strategic sector — atomic power — got a net allocation of Rs 12,461.20 crore for next fiscal, an increase of Rs 498.7 crore over the revised estimates of Rs 11,962.50 crore for the year 2016-17.

The allocation of Rs 12,461.20 crore is net of receipts and recoveries.

The five atomic energy research centres, including the premier Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, get a total allocation of Rs 3,026.20 crore.