THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Budget Monitoring System, an IT-enabled system for budget schemes, has come as a boon for the Finance Department to keep a tab on the re-prioritisation of plan schemes in the wake of the floods. The state government had earlier asked all departments, except three, to re-prioritise their plan schemes so as to achieve a 20 per cent cut which would be used for funding the rebuilding activities. The three departments excluded were Public Works, Water Resources and Agriculture. A major portion of the expenditure cut would be sanctioned to these departments.
Finance Department sources said it was too early to calculate the exact amount which could be saved for the rebuilding activities. However, anything between Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 3,000 crore is expected. The overall plan of the state would come around Rs 22,000 crore.
The Finance Department launched BMS early this year to monitor the progress of projects announced in the state budget. All department heads were then asked to update the details of schemes sanctioned or implemented under their department for 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years. Since the response was low, the Finance Department has now sent an urgent reminder.
“Recording details of the schemes in BMS is essential to review their progress, pre-Budget review and to prepare answers for questions raised in the Assembly,” a letter sent by the Finance Department to all other departments said.
All department heads have been asked to update the details before November 15. As part of the rebuilding activities, Finance Department had recently sanctioned Rs 2,000 crore to the Public works Department. Of this, Rs 205 crore was for road works related to the Sabarimala temple.