CG financial management is appreciated widely: CM

House passes Rs 1618.63 cr second supplementary budget grants

Raipur, December 20, 2011

Chief Minister Raman Singh on Tuesday said that the state was adopting one of the best financial management systems in the country and had won wide appreciation. “The state’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 11.57 percent due to its effective financial management and consequently it reached to third spot in the country among the states with highest GDPs. Our financial management has also been praised by 13th Finance Commission,” he said while speaking on the government’s second supplementary budget grant demands in current fiscal during the fourth day of the state Assembly’s winter session on Tuesday. The House passed the grant demands of Rs 1618.63 crore after the members of ruling and opposition parties debated on it.

The CM further said that the government was also attempting to bring down its financial losses through better management. “Our expenditure on interests is lowest in the country, i.e. merely 6.34 percent,” he said.

Earlier, participating in the debate, senior Congress member Nandkumar Patel raised issues of human trafficking and naxalism in the state. He said since the ruling party failed to spend funds released for tribals and naxal-affected region, large number of girls became victim of human trafficking and state kids were found begging in major cities of the country like Bangalore.

Alleging that the government was deceiving the scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST) and backward class (BC), Patel said the ruling party did not intend to give benefit of reservation to any of the three communities. “If the ruling party really wants to benefit SC community then it should increase its reservation slab up to 16 percent,” he said. Patel demanded from the government to increase the total reservation up to 75 percent (SC – 16%, ST – 32% and BC – 27%).

Congress MLA Dharmjeet Singh said since the government lacked financial discipline, it did not deserve supplementary budgetary grants. He alleged that about Rs 100 crore advance had been paid by the Panchayat and Rural Development Department to the contractors who had not started the given projects.

He prominently mentioned CAG’s critical comments on Tourism, Health and other departments regarding irregularities. He said the supplementary budget was unworthy.

Another Congress member Kawasi Lakhma said that there was no need of budget grants as the government never made proper use of funds. He pointed that despite ample provision of funds for Bastar, the region lacked basic facilities.

The debate was also participated by ruling party members Devji Bhai Patel, Dr Subhau Kashyap, Dr Krishnamurthy Bandhi and Congress members Paresh Baghbahra and Devendra Bahadur Singh.