BHUBANESWAR: Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari presented first Special Supplementary statement of expenditure for 2019-20 in the Assembly on Friday to recoup advance payment made from Odisha Contingency Fund (OCF) to four departments.
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The Minister said the Special Supplementary Budget is required as amount of Rs 1443.12 crore was sanctioned from OCF during 2018-19 remained un-recouped as of now.
While the Revenue and Disaster Management Department had received Rs 6.32 crore for payment of ex-gratia and compensation to some riot victims as per Supreme Court order, the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment was given Rs 1244.66 crore for cash assistance to beneficiaries of Kalia scheme.
Similarly, the Fisheries and Animal Resources Department was given Rs 22.73 crore in advance for livelihood and input support to dairy, fish and poultry farmers and Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability had taken Rs 169.40 crore for pension under social security schemes, he said.
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The corpus of OCF was Rs 400 crore. This was enhanced by another Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1600 crore through Odisha Contingency Fund (Amendment) Ordinance on January 11, 2019, to meet the emergent expenditure for Kalia scheme.
After six weeks from the re-Assembly of state legislature, the ordinance had lapsed on March 18, 2019. The corpus of OCF is now reduced to Rs 400 crore.
“Unless the advanced sanctioned from OCF is recouped early, no money can be sanctioned from OCF even if it is an emergent nature of expenditure as the entire corpus has been exhausted,” Pujari said.