With revenue generation making a serious dent, the State Government will be forced to adopt austerity measures and reduce wasteful expenditure in view of money required to control Covid-19.
There is a mismatch between receipts and expenditure in the State Government as generation of revenue has gone down. Salary and pension expenditure is higher than the revenue receipts. So, administrative expenditure is needed to be curbed, experts advise.
Earlier, the State Government had decided to go for 50 per cent cut in monthly salary of Ministers and All India Services (IAS, IPS and IFS) officers. So far, revenue generation is concerned, Odisha is a mineral rich State and every month it was expected that more than Rs 1,000 crore would be generated.
But during last two months, hardly Rs 700 crore has come to the Treasury from the sector, admits a senior official in Department of Steel and Mines.
Sources said that revenue generation has gone down badly. Take for example, while monthly excise revenue was targeted at Rs 350 crore, hardly Rs 3 crore came to the State exchequer in last month as sale of liquor was totally stopped.
The spread of the pandemic has thrown various challenges before the State which were never faced before, experts reckone.
The pandemic has dented the economy severely. In the prevailing scenario, it becomes an imperative for the State to bring in greater economy in the expenses and set an example.
Now a survey is required to be done on Public Sector Undertakings to gauge the wasteful expenditures adopted by these organisations, which need to be curtailed, experts say. Now expenditure under COVID-19 account is on rise and it will go up in coming months.
So Budget allocations are needed to be reviewed and funds are needed to be arranged due to rise in Covid-19 spending.
While the Government of India has stopped funding for new projects, Capital expenditure is likely to be curtailed and most likely the State Government will not be taking up new projects, officials say.
In the meantime, the State Government has issued orders for depositing back in Treasury, which are lying in the commercial banks for years together.
This will ease liquidity problem of the State Government, which is facing cash crunch.
The State Government will be taking up the matter with the Union Government to clear the dues pending with the Centre.
Accordingly, the Resident Commissioner, New Delhi is taking up issues with various Ministries, officials say.