Bhubaneswar: Even as the state government has been claiming that there is no impact of economic slowdown in the state, it seems to be worried over the slow progress of revenue collection.
This was revealed from the minutes of last meeting of all secretaries held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, who is learnt to have expressed dissatisfaction over the issue.
“The total revenue has increased by only 8.91 per cent, while the declining growth in revenue from mining in the recent months is a cause for concern. Going by the current trend, we run the risk of non-realisation of budgeted resources,” read the minutes.
While land revenue has decreased by 7.24 per cent as on October 2019, collection from taxes & duties on electricity too declined by over Rs 200 crore (11.44 per cent).
In a bid to overcome the situation, the government has directed all revenue-earning departments to emphasize on realisation of revenue arrears. If required, they can propose bringing out settlement schemes, sources said.
The state government offices and state-PSUs have been asked to be compliant with the prevailing tax laws. They have been instructed to clear all pending dues, including electricity bills, holding tax, etc.
The Budget expenditure has also gone down in the state. The total expenditure (other than debt servicing) as percentage of Budget provision was 45 per cent till October 2019 compared to 46 per cent in the last fiscal.
The social sector spending up to October 2019 has been 38.7 per cent of the Budget estimation, whereas as the expenditure was 54:3 per cent during corresponding period last year. As much of the crucial working season has been lost due to model code of conduct, there is need to gear up expenditure to catch up – through expedited execution of work without going for parking of fund in bank accounts, the sources said.