BHUBANESWAR: THE Council of Ministers on Thursday approved the first supplementary budget of around Rs 11,200 crore for the 2020-21 financial year.The meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik discussed allotment of funds to the priority sectors including infrastructure development and implementation of industrial and MSME projects to create employment and income generation opportunities for people reeling under the Covid-19 pandemic.
The State Government will present the supplementary budget on the first day of the winter session of the State Assembly on November 20.As the Chief Minister has announced that life and livelihood are priority for the State government, more funds are likely to be allocated for health and livelihood sectors. “The major concern of the government is to revive the economy which has been severely affected by lockdowns and shutdowns because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” a senior official said.
Another concern before the government has been the poor performance of the agriculture and allied sectors. Review of the funds expenditure in different departments has shown that spending was a little more than 16 per cent in agriculture sector. Spending in the sector in normal times would have touched 60 per cent by this time.Sources said the primary focus will be on reviving agriculture spending which is the primary sector for livelihood and job creation in the State.
However, social sector spending was over 45 per cent during first half of the current financial year, which is more or less similar as compared to last year. Spending in the social sector has primarily increased due to higher expenditure in health, livelihood and social security transfers. Expenditure has increased mainly due to higher spending on food security and social security as well as fund transfer to PDS card holders as part of the Covid-19 assistance.
The State government had presented a budget of Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the 2020-21 financial year in February, 2020. Official sources said that spending by October-end has been around Rs 51,000 crore, out of which expenditure in social sector is Rs 26,000 crore.