Our State's financial condition is bad: Jharkhand FM

Jharkhand Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon on Saturday said the financial condition of the State is in a bad situation due to the lockdown.

"The financial condition of the State is bad. The revenue is not being collected but expenditure has increased. So everyone can guess the real position," Oraon told ANI.

Oraon said that government has three types of sources to overcome this financial situation.

"We have three types of sources to overcome this financial situation. First one is the State's own revenue. It will start generating but it will not be very good at initial phase after lockdown is revoked, as businesses are closed and will take time to come on track," he said

"The second step is the Central government. It has been four months we are not getting our GST share. We are hopeful that we will get it. Besides this, we are hoping for a special package to deal with COVID-19," he added.

"Third one is a loan. We will take a loan. There is no question of coordination gap between State and Central governments. They have their own problems. They too have financial crunch. But, they have some certain remedies. Our position is critical right now, but we hope the Central government will help us generously," he further said.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that Centre has announced a Rs 15,000 crore package to deal with the coronavirus crisis and Rs 4,100 have been disbursed to all States.

"The Centre has announced Rs 15,000 crore for 'India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package' and Rs 4,100 crore have been disbursed to all states. Our aim is that there should not be a problem due to a lack of money," he had said.

Till now there are 17 positive cases of COVID-19 in Jharkhand.

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases crossed 7,500 including 6634 active cases, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. So far 652 people have been cures/discharged while 242 deaths have been reported across the country and one person has migrated.