IMPHAL, March 7: The Manipur Assembly today passed a total amount of Rs 3002,98, 56, 000 (Three thousand and two crore) as Supplementary Grants for 2012-13.
The total amount passed by the House will be the spending of 36 different departments of Manipur Government from March 31 till July of the current year.
Prior to the passing of the amount, MLAs Dr Ibohanbi and L Ibomcha from the Opposition bench made a critical study of the Supplementary Grants 2012-13 in the House.
Ibohanbi charged that the budget was self-contradictory and called it a“jobless budget.”
Noting that no debate was being called on the supplementary budget in the House, he said there is no particular rule that it cannot be discussed here.
He said the Supplementary Demands for Grants does not include a budget for the unemployed youth of the state.
Ibohanbi said, “On the other hand, the budget on security has been increased largely.”
He asked whether there is any relation between law and order situation and the reason for entrepreneurs from outside investing in Manipur.
Replying to the observation and question made by Ibohanbi, Chief Minister O Ibobi said the State Plan Size for the entire country has not been fixed yet and that the full budgets for all the states will be finalized only after passing of the Union Budget Plan in the Parliament.
Ibobi said such a proposal of the Opposition could be considered only when the full budget of the state is finalized.
Entrepreneurs from other states of the country want proper connectivity like airways, railways and roads and apart from this, it is quite necessary to ensure availability of low cost power and water and other raw material requirement of running industries, he said.
The Government is making efforts toward this end, the Chief Minister said and further added that the Government is exploring ways to attract outside entrepreneurs into the state as it cannot provide white colour jobs to all its citizens.
He said that budget for security has been enlarged since there is a shortage in the number of police personnel in the five hill districts of Manipur.