Revenue expenditure a hurdle for asset creation in Uttarakhand

Despite witnessing a robust growth in revenue receipts, which grew by Rs 2,083 crore (17.94 per cent) during the financial year 2011-12, the Uttarakhand government has failed to create assets in the hill state mainly due to heavy increase in revenue expenditure.

The growth in revenue receipts was mainly due to the increase in the state's share of Union taxes and duties (Rs 458 crore), state's own tax revenue (Rs 1,210 crore), the CAG had said in its report on the state's finances for the year ended March 31, 2012.

"The expenditure pattern of the state reveals that the revenue expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure increased during the current year and remained around 83.50 per cent leaving inadequate resources for creation of assets," CAG said, addding the non-plan revenue expenditure (NPRE) increased by 16.45 per cent over the previous year.

The expenditure on salaries accounted for 46.66 per cent and continued to consume a major share of NPRE during 2011-12. Expenditure on pension payments was Rs 1,135 crore in the last financial year which constituted 8.29 per cent of the revenue receipts. The pension payments were well below than the normative assessment (Rs 1,208 crore) made by the Finance Commission.

The state should adopt measures to restrict the components of non-plan revenue expenditure and resort to need-based borrowings to cut down interest, CAG said.

The capital expenditure of the state increased by Rs 462 crore during the year as compared to previous year (2010-11).

During the year 2011-12, a large amount of Rs 2040 crore was directly transferred to implementing agencies. These funds were however not routed through the state Budget/treasury system. As these funds remain outside the state Budget, there is no single agency monitoring its use and also there is no readily available data to ascertain how much is actually spent in particularly year on major flagship schemes and other important schemes, CAG said.