State survives onslaught of NGT ban
SHILLONG: In what can be termed as a worrisome situation, the non tax revenue collection of the state has dipped to Rs 228 crore last year from Rs 596 crore in the year 2013-14 even though the state government has survived the financial crunch following the NGT ban on coal mining.
Informing the media persons here after a meeting of the Meghalaya State Planning Board on the financial condition of the state, Board’s co- chairman John F kharshiing informed that the non tax revenue collection of the state was only Rs 343 crore in the year 2014-15 .
He added that the state has gone through financial crunch due to the NGT ban on coal mining but somehow the state government has managed to tackle the constraints.
“The state government has somehow weathered the storm of financial crisis,” Kharshiing said, adding that all the departments except police department and other important departments had taken austerity measures of reducing their expenditure by 20 percent.
He however informed that for state’s own tax revenue, the projected estimate for 2016-17 is Rs 1268 crore which is much higher compared to Rs 939 crore generated in 2014-15.
According to Kharshiing, the central funding for the state has also gone down as Central shares released for the state in 2015-16 was Rs 1202 .99 crore, in 2014-15, it was Rs 1341.68 crore and in 2013-14 (Rs 1439.6 crore) even as he added that that the Centre has agreed to allow implementation of centrally sponsored schemes under 90:10 pattern in 11 states including 8 in North Eastern states and 3 in Himalaya states,
Out of Rs 1202 crore, a huge amount of Rs 221 crore has been sanctioned for MGNREGS while Rs 166 crore has been sanctioned for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan besides Rs 124 crore has also been sanctioned for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). Kharshiing, however, rued that grants under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution of India for Meghalaya is very less with Rs 28.54 crore while other states are receiving much more funds.
Reacting to a query about the expenditure of the government, he said that the total expenditure of the government in 2015-16 was Rs 7427 crore including Rs 2888 crore for the salary of the government employees.
He also informed that the total expenditure of the government in 2015-16 was Rs 7617 crore including Rs 3004 crore for the salary of around 90,000 government employees in the state.
Meanwhile, he also said that the state government has been able to maintain the Central Government’s cap of 4 percent on GSDP saying that in the year 2014-15, the GSDP of Meghalaya was 3.89 while it was 2.31 in 2015-16 and the projected estimate for state’s GSDP in the year 2016-17 is 3.63.
With regards to the recent closure of wine shops in view of the amended Excise Rules, Kharshiing said, “Rs 141 crore was generated from excise department in 2015-16 and Rs 170 crore in 2015-16. The department has projected to generate Rs 238 crore in 2016-17”.
He said that the next step is to find out whether there is any impact on revenue due to the recent closure of wine shops in the state.
When asked about the delay in releasing scholarships for ST candidates, he said that there was delay from the Central government in releasing funds even as he added that the Central government released funds for some programems on March 31, the last day of the financial year.
The working group of the State Planning Board would now take up the state’s finances and programmes with the programme implementation department to find out how the Central programems are being implemented in the state.
Meanwhile, the meeting has also discussed the functioning of NITI Ayog, which was earlier known as the Planning Commission.
MSPB deputy chairman Manas Das Gupta said that the earlier the planning commission granted lump sum grant and it has been done away with under the NITI Ayog, which is now considered as a think tank of the centre government.
He said NITI Ayog has also restructured all 137 centrally sponsored schemes to 66 central sponsored schemes and 8 central sector schemes (which are under core and noncore schemes). “Niti Aayog is like an old wine in a new bottle,” Kharsiing added