Financial situation in Arunachal sound: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein

Our Correspondent

Itanagar: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Wednesday while responding to allegations by an organization on the financial position of the State clarified that the financial situation is “sound”.

On the allegation made by the All Arunachal Contractor Welfare Association (AACWA), Mein who also holds the Finance and Planning portfolios said that the exercise of reduction of allocation of certain schemes under revised estimate (RE) 2019-20 was carried out in the light of the reduction in the share of Central Taxes which the state received from the Centre.

“In order to ensure prudent fiscal management, the state government decided to defer the expenditure for next financial year,” he said.

The State government wants to categorically clarify that no ongoing schemes have been scrapped or dropped as alleged by AACWA. The only fund allocated in this year’s budget has been restricted and carried forward to the next financial year which was inevitable and unavoidable,” he said.

For all schemes, where allocation has been reduced at the RE stage, adequate fund provision has been budgeted in the Budget Estimate (BE) of 2020-21 so that the planned implementation of the schemes can start immediately from the beginning of next financial year, the Deputy Chief Minister pointed out.

All schemes in RE and BE are finalized in consultation with concerned departments, he added.

Mein added that even certain schemes under the Department of Karmik and Adhyatmik (DoKAA) and Department of Tirap, Changlang, and Longding (DoTCL) could not be taken in RE 2019-20 and are carried to BE 2020-21 for prudent fiscal management.

“The government which is committed to working for the people in all developmental sectors will never take a decision which is ‘anti-people’ and ‘anti-development’. The entire exercise carried in RE 2019-20 was necessitated to maintain financial prudence in order to ensure sound financial health which is the ‘top priority’ of the government,” he added.

Also Read: Arunachal Deputy CM Chowna Mein presents Rs 731.40 crore deficit Budget (2020-21)

Also Watch: KMSS leader Akhil Gogoi granted bail as NIA fails to submit charge-sheet