State Budget utilization rises; crosses Rs 16,000 crore

State budget utilization during current financial year has gone up to around Rs.16202 cr by end of August, 2016 compared to the expenditure of Rs.12, 589 cr during the same period of last fiscal year.

This has been discussed in the all secretaries meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Sri Aditya Prasad Padhi in secretariat conference hall on Wednesday.

Reviewing the progress in various sectors, Chief Secretary directed to augment the revenue collection through one time settlements of old pending cases for supporting higher expenditure in infrastructure and agricultural sectors. Chief Secretary Sri Padhi also directed to focus on mapping of the requirements for connecting the unconnected villages and habitations in priority. The meeting deliberated on various aspects of the identification of unconnected villages and habitations.

It was decided to follow both the methods of space technology with GIS mapping and ground level survey for the purpose. A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Development Commissioner Sri R. Balakrishnan with Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of the departments of rural development, Forest & Environment, ST & SC Development, Chief Executive Officer, Odisha Space Application Center to have close monitoring of the progress.

Development Commissioner Sri Balakrishnan said that the district level committees under the respective collectors would look in to the ground truthing of the data availed through remote sensing and would determine the nature of the gap in connectivity. The meeting deliberated on the connectivity from the view points of approach road and service delivery. Chief Secretary Sri Padhi directed to focus on road connectivity in the first phase and complete the identification of the unconnected villages within 2 to 3 months.

Development Commissioner Sri Balakrishnan added that the degree and sharpness of slope top the unconnected habitations in hilly tracks with its terrain features should also be taken to consideration while identifying these villages so that appropriate method can be adopted for establishing road connectivity. Disposal of the applications received through e-abhijog online system also figured in the meeting. Special Secretary General Administration, Sri Ashok Kumar Meena apprised that so far a total number of 34,613 grievances have been received through various departments out of which more than 60% have been disposed and relief has been provided. The balance applications are at various levels of examination. Considering the inputs given by various departments, Chief Secretary Sri Padhi directed to revive and customize the system for reflecting the receipt and disposal position on a real time basis.

Available data show, the state plan expenditure during 2016-17 up to August, 2016 has been around Rs.16,202 cr which is 35% of the budget estimate against the expenditure of around 31% during the same period of 2015-16.

The budget utilization in agriculture & allied sectors has been around Rs.4154 cr up to August, 2016 which is more than 37% of the budget estimate of the current year against the total spending of around 29% during the same period of 2015-16. Similarly, the utilization in infrastructure sector has gone up to around 44% against the spending of 39% during last financial year. In real terms, the expenditure in this sector has been around Rs. 4945 cr. The social sector spending also followed the same pattern of with utilization of around Rs.6433 cr. i.e. around 32% of the budget estimate. The Revenue collection from both the own tax and non-tax sources has been to the tune of around Rs.10622 cr.

The Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and special secretaries of all departments participated in the deliberations of the meeting.