Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, FM Ajanta Neog busy in Budget preparations for fiscal 2021-22

* Neog not happy with utilization of budgetary funds by some departments

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Finance Minister Ajanta Neog had joint meetings with several departments on the State Budget and discussed many issues threadbare on Sunday. Neog will table the annual Budget for fiscal 2021-22 in the Assembly on July 16.

It is a full-fledged budget. Before the Assembly elections, the then Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma got the Vote on Account passed by the House in February this year.

On her own, Finance Minister Neog did interact with several departments and sought their suggestions on the new Budget. During the interactions, she also reviewed the fund utilizations of the 2020-21 Budget. She had to frown after knowing the poor fund utilization by some departments like the Urban Development Department (UDD), Agriculture Department etc. She was, however, quite happy to see the encouraging utilization of 80-85 per cent budgetary allocation by the PWD and even more by the Health Department in the last fiscal. However, the case of the Health Department is an exception because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the other departments, the utilization of budgetary allocation ranges from 40-55 per cent.

The Finance Minister is also not happy with the Forest Department's style of carrying out plantation drives. She found during the review that on June 5 (World Environment Day), the Department massively plants saplings every year. However, most of the saplings fail to survive due to a lack of proper upkeep. "If this happens, carrying out such plantation drives is meaningless," sources quoted her as saying during the review meeting.

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