Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio on Monday informed that the state government has spent Rs 127.11 crore so far in fighting COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlighting the expenditure on COVID-19, Rio, who also heads the High Powered Committee, informed media persons here at the secretariat conference that out of Rs 127.11 crore, Rs 24.75 crore was received from the Central government while Rs 99.42 crore was spent from the State’s own resources and Rs 2.95 crore was spent from CM’s Relief Fund.
He claimed that his government had been providing financial assistance to Nagas stranded in different parts of the country, bearing the cost of bringing them and keeping them in quarantine centres, all at the cost of the State exchequer.
He said preparation of quarantine centres by repairing and furnishing them, setting up BSL labs, procuring TrueNat testing machines, ventilators, medicines and personal protection equipment for health and frontline workers were all being done at State’s own cost, adding the process was far from being over.
The chief minister remarked that the fight against the pandemic had just begin and with the number of increasing positive cases there was need for more investment in health infrastructure and related activities to ensure that the spread of the virus was limited to quarantine and isolation facilities.
JIC on Tuensang incident: Rio said the Judicial Inquiry Committee (JIC) did not seek time extension and therefore its report was expected by Monday evening or Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Rio informed that 4,600 migrant labourers had left Nagaland, while 13,236 returnees had arrived.
Over delimitation, the chief minister said the Joint Legislators’ Forum would hold a meeting and until the meeting was held, resolution could not be passed on this issue.
Revenue gap grant: Rio said the 15th Finance Commission has recommended Revenue Deficit Grant of Rs 326.42 crore each month to Nagaland for 2020-21.
He said this was a fixed amount and did not change, adding that since it was meant to meet the shortfall in expenditure relating to salaries, pensions, debt servicing, etc, there was no scope to divert this grant for other purposes as is being misunderstood by some.
He admitted that this grant did not fully cover the shortfall in revenue expenditure and so a deficit in resources still remained.
Share of Central tax & duties: On State’s share of Central taxes and duties, Rio said while the Union Budget 2020-21 had projected an amount of Rs 4493.37 crore for Nagaland to be released in 14 equal instalments, actual receipt was much less at Rs 263.80 crore and which was being received in 14 equal instalments.
He said this was given to each State based on the formula worked out by the commission that included parameters like geographical location, forest cover, population and income distance.
He maintained that since the State’s budget was prepared based on the figures reflected by the Central government’s budget, this would leave the State with a shortfall of Rs 800.17 crore by the end of the year at current levels of receipt.
Rio feared that receipts under this head could further reduce since it was based on actual tax collections of the Centre and with tax collections deeply affected by the COV1D-19 pandemic it was possible that reduced tax collections in the current -financial year could result in further reduction of receipts under this head.
As in the case of Revenue Deficit Grant, he said receipts under this head went to meet revenue expenditure on salaries, pensions and debt servicing, etc, and therefore the scope of utilising this receipt for other purposes did not arise.
State’s revenue collection: Due to the lockdown and its negative impact on all economic activities, Rio said revenue collection of the State was deeply affected.
In April this year, he said the State was able to collect Rs 21.28 crore only as against an average monthly receipt of Rs 109 crore in 2019-20. Following partial relaxations in May, he said tax collection in June rose to Rs 09.65 crore though the amount was still far below last year’s levels and would have a negative impact on State’s resource position in the current financial year.
Austerity measures: Knowing the levels of expenditure that would be required to handle the current crisis, Rio said his government decided to reduce government expenditure through various decisions like freezing of fresh appointments, 15% cut in selected items of expenditure such as travelling entitlements, office expenses, motor vehicles and maintenance, freezing of dearness allowances and dearness relief in 2020-21 and pro-rata cut of 15% in State’s own developmental expenditure.
To provide support and handholding in locating job opportunities and meet training/skilling requirements of returnees and keep track of the State’s people going out of the State for employment, he said the government had decided to set up a special cell in the labour & employment department, adding this would be of great help to working professionals returning and going out for work.