Even as the Finance Department is giving final touches to the budget for 2012-13, presumed to be for yet another massive outlay in tune with the Rs. one lakh plus crore budgets of previous years, Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy has said the government will try to meet the realistic expectations of all sections.
“We are not in favour of increasing budget estimates only to ensure that they are higher than previous year. The State government's prestige will be enhanced only when the approved budget is spent fully for people's welfare and development programmes,” Mr. Ramnarayan Reddy, who will be presenting his second successive budget, has said.
He said the budget to be presented on February 17 would be based on the requirements projected by various departments and their track record in utilising the previous budget which was pegged at Rs.1.28 lakh crore.
Though the past experience showed that there was no match between the budget allocation and actual fund release, with a shortfall of Rs.15,000 crore to Rs.18,000 crore, Mr. Ramnarayan Reddy said that the fund release would depend on how effectively the departments utilised the money and within the given timelines.
For instance of Rs.15,000 crore allocated for Irrigation in 2011-12, the Finance Department kept its word of releasing Rs.1,000 crore a month for Jalayagnam projects. Yet, the department could not draw those funds due to delay in works owing to technical reasons or hurdles in land acquisition.
But in January, bills to the tune of Rs.1,400 crore, more than the allotted amount were cleared and the amounts released. There was time for clearance of bills submitted before February 23 for completed works, he added.
Of a total of 83 projects, 48 were priority projects. As they should be completed in the next two years, the pace of works may gain momentum and so would be fund utilisation. Thus one could also not drastically cut the outlay for the sector compared to the last year, he said.
