More funds are likely to be pumped in for health and livelihood as formulation of the Supplementary Budget is on.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has stressed on the protection of lives during Covid-19 pandemic and providing livelihood support to boost the falling economy.
So in the Supplementary Budget, more funds will likely flow to these sectors, as there is requirement of more funds in these sectors, officials admit.
With Supplementary Budget-2020-21 preparation in full swing, all the departments have been asked to submit their proposals within the stipulated period.The Supplementary Budget will be presented in the State Assembly on November 20 and before that Council of Ministers will clear the financial proposals. Senior officials in the Department of Finance are fine-tuning the requirement of the departments, looking at the pace of expenditure during last six months.While it was expected that at least 50 per cent of the Budget provision is expected to be spent by October 31, however due to shutdown and lockdown little more than 36 per cent of the Budget provision has been spent during first six months of this fiscal. Compared to last year nearly 16 per cent less has been spent.Lower level of expenditure is mainly due to imposition of strategic lockdowns and shutdowns to deal with outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
Agriculture and allied sector has performed poorly as spending has been only little more than 16 per cent, while more than 60 per cent people depend on this primary sector in the State.
However, social sector spending was over 45 per cent during the first half of the Fiscal, which was more or less similar as compared to last year, officials say. Social sector expenditure has increased primarily due to higher expenditure in health, livelihood and social security transfers, officials admit.
Expenditure in other sectors has increased mainly due to higher spending on food security and social security transfer as well as fund transfer to PDS card holders as part of Covid-19 management.
While Annual Budget for 2020-21 was Rs 1.50 lakh crore, the budget utilization has crossed Rs 51,000 crore by October, 2020 with highest utilisation achieved of around Rs 26,000 crore in social sector. So more funds are likely to flow for this sector as life saving and livelihood protection have got top priority of the State Government, officials say.