SHILLONG, Dec 16: Meghalaya’s financial position has taken a major hit because of a shortfall of Rs 727 crore from the share of central taxes which the state is yet to receive.
Chief Secretary MS Rao on Wednesday admitted that the financial condition of the state was not good as it was mostly dependent on the share of central taxes.
Acknowledging that the share of central taxes has drastically come down, he informed that from April to October this year, there has been a shortfall of Rs 727 crore in the share of central taxes.
Out of the budget estimate of Rs 3000 crore for seven months, the state has received Rs 2273 crore.
“For a state like Meghalaya, the shortfall amount is very big,” he added.
Reiterating that the state is primarily (90 per cent) dependent on the central share, he said that it has no control over the situation and is helpless for the current financial year.
Informing that the chief minister is continuously urging the central government to help and bail the state out of the difficult situation, the chief secretary expressed optimism that the release of the share of central taxes would be better in the last three months of the financial year.
Asked why the share of central taxes for the state has dipped, Rao said COVID has put restrictions on the economy while economic activities are yet to fully resume.
Financial crisis is posing a major challenge to the state government as the salaries of employees of different government undertakings have not been paid for a couple of months.
The chief secretary however assured that the government would pay the salaries of the employees in future without any problem.
He however added that the government might not be in a position to pay the full arrears to the employees.