SHILLONG: The Congress-led Opposition has expressed concern over the current financial crisis faced by the KHADC.
While participating in the general discussion on the budget speech on the fourth day of the Council’s reassembled budget session on Thursday, Laitumkhrah MDC Antonio War (Congress) pointed out that the revenue collected by the Council was far too less and led to a severe financial crunch.
Out of the total budget of Rs 104.37 crore approx (Rs 1, 04, 37, 80, 200) for the KHADC which had been proposed for the year 2014-2015, War said that Rs 64.40 crore is from the 13th Finance Commission while another Rs 20.25 crore is the share of the Council from the royalties of minerals leaving a meagre Rs 19.70 to revenue collection.
The Congress MDC was also concerned over the fact that the NGT ban on coal mining will further reduce the revenue, ultimately forcing the EC to divert funds from the 13th Finance Commission to pay the salaries of the staffs of the Council.
War said that there is a need to come up with some other ways and means to increase the revenue generation of the Council.
“The future of the Council will be very bleak if we do not find some other sources of revenue generation,” War said.
Admitting that there was a serious financial crisis in the Council, KHADC CEM Ardent Miller Basaiawmoi said the collection of professional tax by the Council has seen a decrease due to the introduction of slab system by the state government.
According to Basaiawmoit different businesses have been categorised separately with taxes to be paid accordingly.
While hoping that the NGT ban on coal mining was only temporary, Basaiawmoit said that the state government should come up with a policy to regulate coal mining since it is a huge revenue earner.
Earlier taking part in the general discussion on the budget, opposition leader, PN Syiem said that the EC should strengthen the district council courts so that pending cases can be disposed of quickly.
Syiem also said that initiative should be taken to computerise all the departments in order to streamline the functioning of the Council.