Expenditure in Odisha state plan in priority sector crosses 60 percent

New CS Aditya Padhi (2)Bhubaneswar, Feb 10: The expenditure in priority sectors of the Odisha state plan during 2015-16 financial year crossed 60 percent by the end of January, recording an overall growth of around 29.78 percent over the last fiscal.

In tune with the expenditure, the revenue collection has also shown a growth of around 21 percent by the end of January compared with corresponding period last fiscal.

This was revealed in a meeting of department secretaries under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here on Tuesday.

The state’s revenue collection from own tax sources up to January increased to Rs.17,081 crore, which is 22 percent more than that in previous year.

Similarly, revenue from non-tax sources touched Rs.6,046 crore, around 18 percent more than last fiscal’s figures.

Complementing the secretaries for the satisfactory performance in expenditure, Padhi advised them to keep up the pace of expenditure and avoid rush in spending in March.

The departments were advised to focus on collection of revenue arrears through one-time settlements with central public sector undertakings and private sector industries instead of spending time and energy in litigation, said an official release.

Padhi also directed the departments to scale up service delivery at the ground level.

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The secretaries were asked to take up district visits regularly to improve quality of service delivery and for ground-level feedback for policy-making.

Available data shows the state plan expenditure in agriculture and allied sectors up to January 2016 was Rs.5,850 crore, around 61 percent of the budget estimate.

The expenditure in this sector is 4.49 percent more than the last fiscal.

The expenditure in infrastructure sector was Rs.7,749 crore, which is 61 percent of the budget. The last year’s expenditure in this sector was around 51.28 percent by this time, the release added.

Spendings in the social sector has been Rs.13,186 crore, which is 62 percent of the budget. Last year’s expenditure in this sector by the end of January was around 55 percent of the budget estimate.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner Kishan Kumar made a presentation on the smart city projects in the meeting.

It was decided to set up a separate drainage division in the BMC for bringing management of all drains under one system.

Proposals relating to development of urban ecosystem, economic growth, traffic management, rapid mass transit system, parking management, beautification of streets and squares, emergency response, disaster mitigation, common payment card etc. in the smart city were also discussed.

The chief secretary advised various departments to extend all necessary support to the BMC for expediting the implementation of projects.  (IANS)

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