Describing the 2016-17 budget as a vastly improved budget over the years and the best budget placed in the house, State chief minister T.R Zeliang today boasted of reducing the accumulated deficit from Rs. 1542.71 crore to Rs. 1419.35 crore (total of Rs. 123.36 crore) during this current financial year. Zeliang said he further intends to reduce it by Rs. 225 crore during 2016-17.
Addressing press conference at the conference Hall, Nagaland Legislative Assembly Thursday evening, the chief minister informed that for the first time most of the backlogs and Civil Deposit (CD) of the past years, from 2010-2015 was cleared during this month and the remaining would be cleared within few days before financial year ends.
Zeliang said that his aim was to maximize development and ensure effective financial management within the state while reducing accumulated deficit.
Further, stating that his efforts to focus on overall development of the state and ensuring financial management, he said if the citizens and department co-operate in earning revenue and in curtailing unnecessary expenditure the financial management would bring a sustainability system in the state.
Rubbishing the rumours that opposition-less government had nothing to discuss in the ongoing session, he said for the first time state government has positive Balance from Current Revenue (BCR) of Rs. 71.62 crores for 2016-17. He said even the members of the house have experienced that in the past, BCR gap was negative, exceeding Rs. 1000 crores upto Rs. 2000 crores on few occasions.
He also asserted that unlike 13th Finance Commission, the 14th Finance Commission award has been reasonable to the state of Nagaland, particularly with respect to the grants made to cover the revenue gap. He said Nagas should be grateful to 14th FC for considering the case with practical approach.
The chief minister requested the AHoDs and HoDs not to take undue advantage on the generosity of the 14th FC, saying now since there was no more boundary between plan and non-plan one should be very truthful to oneself while preparing non-plan expenditure like salary, pension, TA/DA, leave encashment etc and appealed to use the fund judiciously.
When asked about new tax proposal, the chief minister said there was none yet, but maintained that improvement on tax collection system was notified on revenue collection system like land value where government could expect step up revenue collection.
On the declaration of year of construction workers, Zeliang informed that the government was tying up with all ITIs to impart training and engage in the construction field. He said skill development department was gearing up with the ITIs.
When queried about the RTI filed by Congress party against the state government on excessive expenditure on Hornbill festival, where Rs. 11.95 crore was spent 2010-2014 and earned only Rs. 7 lakhs revenue, Zeliang said Hornbill Festival was not a profitable festival but to attract tourists. He said the concept of government to earn revenue through the festival was wrong.
He however said that to reduce the expenditure, the government has mooted out on reducing the number days of hornbill festival. Zeliang said consultations would be held on this matter.