A SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET OF RS 4,724.62 PRESENTED IN THE ODISHA ASSEMBLY

A SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET OF RS 4,724.62 CRORE PRESENTED IN THE ODISHA ASSEMBLY 13/12/2011

Bhubaneswar: Finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei on Monday presented the highest-ever Supplementary Budget to the tune of Rs 4,724.62 crore for 2011-12, in the State Assembly.

This budget is Rs 1,817.92 crore more than the Supplementary Budget for 2010-11.

The budget has focused more on village development.
The state government regularised the services of 17,232 para teachers working under the Zilla Parishads by providing Rs 186 crore in the budget.

While Rs 202 crore has been provided to extend the loan repayment period of the farmers affected by the un-seasonal rains, Rs 70 crore has been earmarked for pregnant women under the Mamata scheme.

Besides, there is provision of Rs 100 crore for construction of Anganwadi Centre buildings, Rs 23 crore for the Indira Awas Yojana and Rs 197.76 crore for old age pension.

While Rs 2,377.81 crore has been provided as non-plan expenditure, Rs 1,801 crore has been provided for State plan expenditure.

For Central plan and Centrally-sponsored schemes Rs 127.03 crore and Rs 418.52 crore respectively has been provided in the budget.

There would be no problem in mobilising the additional resources for the Supplementary Budget, Ghadei said, adding that the government will get an additional Rs 450 crore from its own tax and non-tax revenue.

The own tax and non-tax revenue collection by the end of October this year has touched Rs 9,819 crore while the target for the current fiscal ending March 2012 is Rs 16,104 crore.

The collection is 61 percent during the first half of the fiscal, the minister informed the House.

He said that the state would get an additional Rs 792 crore towards its share from the Central taxes as against the budget estimate of Rs 11,429 crore for the year 2011-12.

By the end of October, Rs 6,305 crore, which is about 55 percent of the year’s expectation, has been received by the state, he said, further adding that in addition to this, the state would have Rs 700 crore National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and Rs 804 crore surrendered fund by the various departments.

Outlining the provision of funds for various heads, the minister said that for providing relief to the affected farmers, the state government has allocated Rs 150 crore towards conversion of short-term loans to medium-term loans in drought-and unseasonal rain-affected areas.

Similarly, Rs 52.52 crore has been provided in the Supplementary Budget for interest subsidy over loan conversion.

While Rs 42.77 crore has been allocated for implementation of Mid-Day Meal as the state’s share under State Plan scheme, Rs 700 crore has been provided towards expenditure to be met from NDRF on account of natural calamities like drought and floods and 2011 Rs 6.20 crore for creation of fair price shops in gram panchayat headquarters.

With the provision of Rs 4724.62 crore in the Supplementary Budget, the total budget amount for the 2011-12 financial year has gone up to Rs 50,772.37 crore.

The highest Rs 1,454.35 crore has been earmarked for the revenue and disaster management department, followed by Rs 375.75 crore for planning and coordination, Rs 788.10 crore for women and child development, Rs 288.08 crore for cooperative and Rs 271.35 crore for finance department.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA
BUREAU CHIEF, THESE DAYS,
ODISHA