Bhubaneswar20/11/20: The cumulative debt stock of the Odisha government increased to Rs 97,823 crore till the end of September 2020 which is 16.4% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP), Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari said on Friday.
“We are emphasising on realisation of arrear revenue and mopping up of resources to ensure higher revenue generation and lower dependence on borrowing,” he added.
The additional provision of Rs 11,200 crore comprises of Rs 2,273 crore towards administrative expenditures, Rs 1,484 crore towards disaster management funds, Rs 5 crore towards transfer to local bodies, and Rs 7,438 towards program expenditure.
The allocations under administrative expenditure and Transfer to local bodies are to be financed against adjustment and surrender. Similarly, the allocation under Disaster Management Funds will be financed against the year-end balance and anticipated receipts from the NDRF.
The Programme Expenditure of Rs 7,438 crore will be partially funded by tied-up resources to the Rs 2,755 crore and the balance requirement of Rs 4,683 crore are to be met out of savings and surrender during the year.
In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the State government has given priority to life and livelihood. A sum of 1768.77 crores has been allocated for Health and Family Welfare Department, 2046.11 crores for Panchayati Raj Department, Rs 2, 363.04 crores for Finance Department and 1078.30 crore allocation was made for food security.
Odisha government has said the primary focus of this year’s Supplementary budget 2020-21 is Covid response-related health, food and social security, livelihood, and employment generation.
“The Annual Budget of Rs 1,50,000 crore for the financial year 2020-21 was prepared at a time when the Covid was not in the picture and GSDP growth assumed to continue at a rate surpassing the National GDP growth. However, the pandemic has now completely changed the scenario,” a government statement said.