The Finance Minister, K. Rosaiah, today presented a tax-free Rs. 55,331-crore budget for 2005-06 in the State Assembly, the first full-fledged one by the Congress after it returned to power, giving a major thrust to irrigation.The annual plan for 2005-06 is estimated at Rs. 15,650.77 crores, an increase of 17.75 per cent over the Rs. 13,291.20 crores last year. Amid thumping of desks by treasury benches, the Finance Minister said in tune with its election promise, the Government had allocated Rs. 6,350 crores to the irrigation sector, an unprecedented increase of 50.42 per cent over the current year (2004-05) outlay of Rs. 4,222 crores. This allocation to irrigation constituted 40.57 per cent of the total annual plan outlay for 2005-06.