NGT ban effect
SHILLONG: Due to the financial crunch in the wake of NGT ban on coal mining, the State Government has imposed 20% cut on non-plan budget to tide over the situation.
The additional chief secretary in-charge finance B K Dev Verma told reporters on Tuesday that except for the cut on salaries, the Government has imposed cut on non-plan budget of all the departments at the rate of 20%. The non-plan budget includes office expenses, maintenance and travel expenses among others.
The State Government had earlier banned the purchase of Government vehicles.
Earlier, the cut on non-plan budget was only 10%, but the Government was compelled to resort to more cuts from the current financial year since April due to the shortage of funds.
The official said that the loss of revenue in terms of royalty from the mineral is around Rs 500 crore annually and the State Government hopes to save at least Rs 300 crore annually with this kind of austerity measures.
