Former union minister Jayant Sinha on Tuesday accused the Hemant Soren government for poor financial management causing significant loss to the State exchequer.
Sinha who held a press conference at state BJP headquarters said that the bad budget capital expenditure decreased by 29.8 per cent which further caused a fall of 32.7 per cent in the capital outlay.
“It shows less expenditure on construction of hospital, road, bridges and likes, besides there is huge decrease in the allotment in areas like rural development, irrigation and transport. During Covid-19 pandemic the government should have developed health infrastructure. Instead the government reduced capital expenditure. The government failed to take-off 500-beds hospital in Hazaribagh, Dumka, Palamu and Jamshedpur,” he said.
Sinha, who had served as Union Minister of State for Finance said that despite funds and resources provided by the Centre; Jharkhand failed to properly utilize and explore its own resources.
He claimed that during the NDA government in Jharkhand the economy was quite robust which is evident from the fact that there was an increase of 29.7 per cent in the revenue generation and there was a sharp decline in fiscal deficit. Capital receipts for the same period also increased by 28.8 per cent.
Sinha said that the government successfully increased revenue by eliminating revenue losses. The revenue deficit during this period was GSDP. 2.28 per cent of the FRBM. The act was within the 3 per cent rate limit.
He said that the profits from mining have steadily increased over the last five years due to government reforms. The estimated mining receipt amount of Rs 8,000 crore for 2020-21 is 15.6 per cent of the total revenue receipts of Jharkhand.
He said that the Government of India has raised the lending limit for the states by taxing GSDP from 3 per cent to 5 per cent for the financial year 2020 to support the states in the Corona period. Additional 2 per cent lending is linked to power distribution, ease of doing business, one nation one ration card etc at some state level. The state government should ensure financial sector expansion and effective administration, turning epidemic disaster into opportunity, he said.