SHILLONG, June 24: The Voice of the People Party-led Executive Committee (EC) in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) made history on Tuesday by presenting a surplus budget for the financial year 2025-2026.
Executive Member in-charge of Finance Seiborlang Warbah, who presented the budget during the first day of the budget session, said the estimated expenditure of Rs 227.48 crore is slightly lower than the projected revenue receipts of Rs 227.53 crore.
He outlined the measures taken by the EC during 2023-2024 to enhance the council’s functioning and revenue generation.
Highlighting developments under the 15th Finance Commission, Warbah said the state government had released funds for the years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 (Tied Grant 1st instalment).
According to implementation guidelines, he said all scheme proposals must be uploaded on the e-Gram Swaraj portal before funds are disbursed to the ADCs.
Stating that technical issues caused delays in meeting these requirements, he said the council received Rs 12.15 crore in December 2024 as the first instalment of the Untied Grant for 2021-2022, following successful uploading of the schemes on the portal.
According to him, the second instalment for 2021-2022 (both Tied and Untied) has already been uploaded while the uploading of schemes and proposals for 2022-2023 is underway.
Warbah said the council is in the process of submitting utilisation certificates for the implemented grants and hoped that the Centre will release the remaining funds soon.
Later, Executive Member in-charge of Land and Development, Powel Sohkhlet told reporters it was for the first time in the council’s history that the budget speech included plans to establish a Recruitment Committee to streamline the hiring process.
He said the EC is working to make the Recruitment Committee operational at the earliest. Further, he announced that the council will stop outsourcing the printing of renewal trading licences to external parties.
Despite the staff of the council handling verifications and procedures, the outsourcing contractor was charging Rs 1,500 per renewal, of which the council received only Rs 300.
“By handling printing on its own, the council stands to gain an additional Rs 60 lakh in annual revenue,” Sohkhlet said.
He said the new EC had introduced austerity measures to improve the council’s financial health.
According to him, these included reducing the number of Executive Members and disbanding non-essential committees that were putting a financial burden on the council through honorariums and packages for chairpersons and members.
“We undertook these measures because we could realise that the council’s financial condition is not strong,” Sohkhlet said.
The proposed budget allocation will support the disbursement of salaries for members, chairperson, deputy chairperson, leader of the Opposition, Executive Members, and staff across the council’s executive, legislative and judicial departments.
Professional tax
Meanwhile, the KHADC collected Rs 11.98 crore in revenue from Professional Tax during FY2024-25.
Responding to a question by Nongshken MDC Grace Mary Kharpuri during the Council’s summer session on Tuesday, Executive Member in charge of Finance, Seiborlang Warbah, said that taxpayers include government employees, teachers, bank staff, and contractors. He added that 20 staff members are currently engaged in tax collection.
Replying to another question raised by Kharpuri, CEM Shemborlang Rynjah assured the House that financial aid for victims of natural calamities will be provided without bias.
He said the EC has already initiated steps to support affected families.
