Chief Minister T.R Zeliang described budgeting as a continuous process, subjected to revision from time to time , based on reviews necessitated by changes /corrections in information.
He said salary provisions made in the budget estimate do not undergo changes in the revised estimates while the requirement under salary or non-salary components were assessed for each demand meticulously and provided for to the extend the availability of resources permitted .
He was replying to an earlier statement made by minister school education and SCERT Yitachu during the budget debate, on the third day of the 11th session, Friday. Zeliang informed members that finance department make estimates for salary under each demand based on the salary statement submitted by the department and calculations then made accordingly.
On the number of employees shown in the budget document, he said it was based on the figures submitted by the department(s) while the number of work charged employees and employees of PSUs and boards were not mentioned as they were not regular employees of the government. He also clarified that the number of employees shown in the budget documents (1,19,339) did not include about 4652 employees under the flagship programme such as SSA, RMSA and Hindi teachers.
On the state share for CSS, Zeliang said it was part of the total plan allocation which was decided by the state planning board after due consideration of the resources available for plan. Based on the actual requirement of each scheme, funds were released to the department to the extent required, inclusive of state share available within the state plan allocation approved by the state planning board.
He also clarified that there has been no plan holiday as stated by one of the members. Zeliang said it needed to be understood that “plan” included not only the untied or flexible amount available for allocation to the departments but also all the CSS, flagship programmes, NEC, NLCPR etc.
He said all these components together were called “Plan Outlay” that came to the tune of Rs. 3924.47 crores for the next year.
However he said to fully utilize the outlays for CSS, central flagship programme and EAP, the concerned departments has to work harder and improve their efficiency.
He reiterated his appeal to all the administrative heads and head of departments to be truthful while preparing non-plan expenditure such as salaries, pensions, TA/DA, leave encashment etc as the budget for plan expenditure was like a mirror which was seen and understood by all. However he said non-plan was not equally visible as understood by the public thereby transparency and truth should be maintained.
He also said state wanted more fund for development so asked departments to check and reduce unnecessary non-plan expenditure since there was no more boundary between plan and non-plan.
He assured to examine all issues raised during the debate and to take appropriate actions and for the issues concerning various specific departments.
Thanking the speaker and the members of the house for the smooth conduct, orderly conduct of the proceedings and participation in the debate, Zeliang commended the budget 2016-17 to the house for consideration and passing.
NLA speaker informed that consideration and passing of the budget 2016-17 will be held on Saturday.
CORRIGENDUM:
Apropos “Zeliang presents 2016-17 budget” that appeared in the March 18 issue, owing to typographical error, the figure on should read as Rs.1194.35 cr and not Rs.119.35 crore.