From Our Correspondent
Agartala: Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury on Friday presented a tax-free budget of Rs 9416.49 crore for the 2013-14 financial year leaving a deficit of Rs 205.39 crore.
The deficit will be addressed by better realization of government resources, austerity measure and increasing inflow of fund from various central government welfare schemes.
Giving a detailed account of the resources, Chowdhury showed that central grant for state plan at 34 per cent, central non-plan assistance at 13 per cent and share of central taxes at 20 per cent will form the bulk of the state’s income in the current financial year.
The most worrying part is that 10 per cent of the total budgetary allocation of Rs 9416.49 crores will come from loans from private bodies and public institutions. While gross market borrowing is Rs 880 crore, the open market borrowing stands at Rs 650 crore.
Placing the budget, Chowdhury said in spite of pressure on the state finances in the wake of less outlay by 13th Finance Commission the government has managed its finances very prudently.
“Despite repeated requests to the Central government for special package to the state to tide over the financial crisis, the Centre did not grant any special assistance to the government,” he said.
Chowdhury hoped that the 14th Finance Commission would adequately address the concerns of the state government so that the state would be in a position to remove the disparities in the pay structures of state government employees.
Chowdhury, in his speech, urged the Centre to enact a comprehensive legislation for monitoring and controlling of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) for protection of investors, said many of the NBFCs and chit funds were registered outside the state and hence beyond the regulatory powers of the state government.
“Though the state had enacted a law to monitor the activities of NBFCs, the legislation falls short to act against the authorities of NBFCs,” he said.
In terms of departmenal allocation, health and family welfare, school education, police, PWD, tribal welfare etc have topped the table.