A month before deadline, govt gives finishing touches to Budget 2018-19

Deptts' expenditure 'at par' for FY 2017-18: Dir Budget

JAMMU: A month prior to the deadline it has set for accomplishing the process of budget preparation, the government has set the ball rolling for final touches to the annual budget- holding pre-budget discussions on Friday with 6 important departments, mid-way of the discussions program which had taken off on November 8.
On Friday, it was the turn of half a dozen departments including Information, Hospitality & Protocol, Estates, Labour & Employment, Tourism and Ladakh Affairs, as Principal Secretary Finance, Navin Kumar Choudhary held discussions upon the estimates submitted by these departments for budget allocations for the upcoming budget, five days before the discussions culminate on November 22.
With discussions going as per schedule, the officials are confident of the budget being presented in the first week of January, 2018, as reported by The News Now, a few days earlier.
"The Government has decided to present the Budget in the State Legislature in the first week of January 2018 and accordingly the Finance Department contemplates to accomplish the process of budget preparation by 2nd week of December 2017", the Principal Secretary Finance reiterated.
In a significant development, the Finance Department on Friday also sought Action Taken Reports (ATRs) from the departments on the announcements made in the Budget for the current financial year.
"The ATRs on the previous Budget announcements have been asked from all the departments so that the progress in translating the announcements into reality could be ascertained for passing necessary directions," Naveen Kumar said.
The move is also seen as one of the deciding parameters of allocating budget to the departments, based on their performance in current financial year.
Last year, the government had faced heavy criticism over the rushed expenditure-42%- in the last quarter by various departments, a clear violation of Jammu and Kashmir's financial code.
Learning from the same mistake, the state government on October 16 had taken to task all its departments, directing them to expedite the pace of expenditure while asserting that expenditure during the last quarter of the financial year 2017-18 shall be limited to 30% budget allocation and the unutilized portion over and above the fixed criteria will be automatically forfeited.
Interestingly, one of the departments in Friday's meeting was Ladakh Affairs department, which had topped the cases of rush of expenditure with 97 per cent of the total spending, Rs 743.05 crore out of allocated Rs 763.51 crore, incurred in the last quarter of last fiscal.
When The News Now reached out to Director Budget Imtiyaz Ahmad, who was present in the meeting, he didn't divulge much on the performance of expenditure of departments in current fiscal, but said that the pace was satisfactory.
"All the departments have been spending the budget allocated to them for current year, uniformly and satisfactorily," Ahmad said.
When particularly pressed for Ladakh Affairs Department, Ahmad said that it was performing 'at par'.
"We started the practice of presenting the annual budget in January last year only to help our departments work efficiently, and I am sure that the targets will be achieved well in time for current fiscal," he said.
Pertinently, the Finance Department had released 100% of the budgetary allocation for the year 2017-18 to ensure that the developmental process is not hampered for want of resources.
Earlier, the state government used to present the annual budget in March every year.
"Advancing the date of presenting the budget is aimed at streamlining public expenditure, ensuring effective management of resources and timely completion of the developmental projects," Principal Secretary Choudhary said.