BHUBANESWAR: With budget utilisation dropping by around five per cent during the April-August period, Odisha government has a task at hand to handle the Rs 2 lakh crore outlay for 2022-2023 fiscal.Official sources said total expenditure (other than debt servicing) was 23.6 pc of the budget provision till August and it is 4.1 pc less than that of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The budget utilisation in programme expenditure during the period decreased by 4.7 pc. The utilisation stood at 19.7 pc till August as compared to 24.4 pc during the previous year.The expenditure (excluding debt repayment) in 2022-23 has been targeted at Rs 1,85,999 crore, which is an increase of 28 pc over the revised estimate of Rs 1,45,246 crore in 2021-22.
The programme expenditure in agriculture and allied sector was 28.9 pc of budget estimate (BE) till August as against 29.7 pc of previous year. Though programme expenditure in the infrastructure sector during the period is up by 3.9 pc - from 14.9 pc in 2021-22 to 18.8 pc so far this fiscal, budget utilisation is much below the normative level.
There is significant reduction in social sector programme expenditure as utilisation was 19.3 pc of BE as compared to 28.3 pc in the previous year. The programme expenditure in other sectors has been 13.5 pc as against 14.2 pc last year.
The low pace of expenditure has left economists concerned. Secretary of Orissa Economics Association Amarendra Das said the State has less capacity to spend because of huge vacancies at all levels. Also lack of prospective plans by the government for developmental works and welfare activities is a hindrance.
Finance department officials attributed the low pace of expenditure to lack of monitoring by departments and less spending on fixed assets.
“Departments have been asked to focus on full and effective utilisation of programme budget. They have been advised for capacity enhancement at execution level, give special emphasis on CAPEX and periodic monitoring besides taking up high impact new capital projects,” said an official.