Bhubaneswar: Expressing concern over low budget expenditure, the Odisha chief secretary Asit Tripathy Tuesday directed the secretaries to achieve at least 60% expenditure by the end of December, 2019. The revenue utilisation during the first six months of the fiscal ending on September 30, 2019 grew by a meager 9.15% over last fiscal during the same period. The total expenditure during the April-September period was Rs 46,819 crore.
” The departments have to rearrange their spending pattern so as to scale up utilisation level to at least 60% of the budgeted amount by the end of Decembe,2019″, said the chief secretary while presiding over the all secretaries meeting, here on Tuesday
Tripathy directed the department bosses to expedite the budget utilisation and make up the back log which was caused because of the model code of conduct for general elections.
Reviewing the fiscal performance of various department, the chief secretary asked the department heads to make a realistic reassessment of financial requirement for the current year keeping in view the Supplementary Budget 2019-20.
The Supplementary Budget would be presented around mid-November and the secretaries are supposed to give their financial requirements by October 23, 2019.
The finance principal secretary, AK Meena, advised that the “anticipated savings, if any, should be surrendered by the departments for re-allocations.”
Meena appraised that the fiscal strategy paper for the financial year 2020-21 would be presented by December 2019 and pre-budget consultations would be held between December 16 and 31, 2019. The departments were asked to complete online submission of Annual Establishment Review in HRMS portal by November 15, failing which the salary from the month of November could not be disbursed.
Development commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, agriculture production commissioner Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra, additional chief secretary steel & mines RK Sharma and principal secretaries and secretaries of various departments were present.
