Imphal, July 20 2017: The second session of the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly was opened today with presentation of budget estimates for 2017-18 by Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar who is also in-charge of Finance Department .
After highlighting salient features of the budget estimates and thrust areas of the Government, the Deputy Chief Minister stated that fiscal deficit for 2017-18 is estimated at Rs 851.41 crore .
Y Joykumar also presented a vote of account for the month of August .
For 2017-18, the total receipts is estimated at Rs 12510.61 crore out of which revenue receipts are estimated at Rs 11096.25 crore and capital receipts at Rs 1414.36 crore.
Total estimates of State’s own tax and non-tax receipts in the Budget Estimates are Rs 831.86 crore and Rs 245.51 crore respectively .
Receipt from State’s share in Central Taxes & Duties is estimated at Rs 4168.45 crore.
During this fiscal year, it is proposed to have a total expenditure of Rs 12420.65 crore out of the Consolidated Fund of the State.
Out of this, Rs 9952.35 crore is under Revenue account and Rs 2468.30 crore under Capital account .
Out of the total expenditure, an amount of Rs 961.31 crore is charged expenditure and the remaining amount of Rs 11459.34 crore is voted expenditure .
While presenting the budget estimates, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Y Joykumar stated that the Manipur Goods and Services Act 2017 has been implemented since July 1 and it has replaced the Value Added Tax Act 2004 and two other Acts .
GST would bring about uniform taxation and remove the imbalance in tax variation and price variation in different States of the country.
Under GST, the State is expected to generate revenue of around Rs 700 crore annually .
Digital Life Certificate for Pensioners Scheme of the Government of India known as Jeevan Pramaan has also been introduced for the State Government pensioners which would address the problem faced by pensioners of going to treasuries every six months .
Digital Application for Review by Public and Nation (DARPAN) has been launched on April 14 this year for monitoring development activities.
This would ensure transparency and accountability in the execution of projects/works, stated the Deputy Chief Minister .
He also mentioned that the State Government has revived Government’s public transport system under the nomenclature of Manipur State Transport .
Maintaining that the State Government has been according due importance to all round development and reduction of regional imbalance between hills and valley, Joykumar informed the House that an amount of Rs 30 crore has been earmarked for implementation of Start Up Policy .
Another Rs 35 crore has been allocated as 50 per cent of total cost for construction of women markets at Ukhrul, Chandel, Tamenglong, Churachandpur, Senapati, Kangpokpi and Jiribam at the rate of Rs 5 crore for each market under one time special assistance of Central Plan Scheme .
An amount of Rs 4.20 crore is provided for repairing, renovation and maintenance works in Khuman Lampak Sports Complex for starting classes of National Sports University from the academic session 2017-18 .
Another Rs 20 crore has been provided as 50 per cent of total cost for flood lighting of Khuman Lampak Sports complex and Luwangshangbam Cricket Stadium under one time special assistance of Central Plan Scheme .
Further, an amount of Rs 2.50 crore has been provided as 50 per cent of total project cost for completion of 100-bedded district hospital at Ukhrul under one time special assistance of Central Plan Scheme .
For the development of smart city project, an amount of Rs 16.44 crore is provided as State matching share and Rs 21.98 crore for retrofitting of Ima Markets affected by 2016 earthquake .
The State Government has also provided a corpus fund of Rs 10 crore for the Manipur State Journalists Welfare Scheme for providing relief and assistance to journalist fraternity, added the Deputy Chief Minister.
Source: The Sangai Express
