Arunachal govt denies financial mismanagement in state

Arunachal Pradesh government today denied any financial mismanagement in the state, as alleged by expelled Congress MLA Kalikho Pul, but admitted an accumulated deficit of Rs 4486.74 crore in the past 10 years.
"The deficit has increased to Rs 4486.74 crore till March 2015 from Rs 146.47 crore in 2005-2006," government spokesman Bamang Felix said here.
Reacting to Pul's charge of financial mismanagement by the present government to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore, Felix said the government has been facing financial constraints mainly due to substantial increase in the salary sectors.
"The grants given by 13th Finance Commission on salary and pension was not sufficient to meet up all requirements of salaries and pensions," he said, adding, there was substantial increase in the state's salary component after recruitments of 18,863 employees in the past 10 years.

The amount received as upfront and processing fee was used for implementation of the 6th Pay Commission including payment of arrears during 2009-10 and 2010-11.
After that the receipt of upfront and processing fee from hydropower developers was meagre. However, salary as per 6th Pay Commission are being paid regularly and this is the prime cause of present financial constraints, he added.

"Many Special Category states in the present context are not being able to pay salaries. However, we have regularly disbursed salaries, pensions and other emoluments to our employees," he said.
To a question on what steps the state government is taking to tide over the crisis, he said various fiscal reforms are being contemplated but declined to elaborate.

Terming the allegation levelled by Pul yesterday, a day after his expulsion from the party, as "a misnomer and misleading", Felix said, financial constraint is a common phenomenon in every progressive state of the country.
He asked, "How can it be financial mismanagement when the state budget is audited by the CAG and recommended to the state Assembly where Public Account Committee (PAC) examines it and the House passes it?"
On Pul's charge of closing the financial year on March 24 instead of March 31, he said cheques were issued on March 24 to avoid rush in the last part of the financial year.

The method was adopted during previous years also and it is for the convenience of the contractors, he said.
There was no ban on withdrawal of GPF advance, non-refundable GPF withdrawal by state government employees as alleged by the former finance minister, Felix said.