The Budget for 2019-20 is likely to focus on employment generation, tapping the Union Territory’s tourism potential and disbursing salary arrears of government employees. Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy recently chaired a meeting with officials to discuss the modalities of the Budget which is expected to be tabled in July.
The outlay for the fiscal will be significant, especially in the context of the Chief Minister flagging several drawbacks to the U.T.’s unique status vis a vis Central grants and funding from the Central Finance Commission. Mr. Narayanasamy during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi submitted a seven-point charter of demands that included Statehood for Puducherry, its inclusion in the Central Finance Commission, a one-time financial grant and waiver of legacy debt.
“We are also going ahead with the modalities of holding an investors meet,” Mr. Narayanasamy told The Hindu .
Among the important portfolios discussed at the preliminary meeting were Health and Tourism, held by Malladi Krishna Rao, power, education and rural development, held by R. Kamalakannan, social welfare, Adi Dravida Welfare, labour, pollution and Port development managed by M. Kandasamy.
Another round of discussions will take up the crucial departments of PWD, held by A. Namassivayam, and Revenue held by MOHF Shahjahan. The roadmap for each department as well as the fund utilisation record will be examined as part of the exercise.
As per convention, the draft Budget is placed for approval before the State Planning Board, which is chaired by the Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi. Once approved, the draft is sent for ratification to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which is the controlling authority for the Union Territory. This year, a vote on account for ₹2703.63 crore was adopted to meet the urgent expenditure for a period of five months (April to August) due to the Parliamentary elections.
