Central funds helped Goa manage its finances: Chief Minister

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said today though hit by ban on mining, funding from the Centre has managed to keep state's financial health sound.
"Though our financial situation is very tight, we have managed to meet the requirement as funding from the Centre to State has increased," Parsekar told reporters here.
Goa witnessed a tremendous shortfall in the revenue earnings after the ban on the mining industry.
Iron ore extraction and export industry was stopped following directives of Supreme Court in 2012.
Parsekar said the Modi-led government's initiative to increase funding to the state has helped the government to come out of a likely crisis.

"Our borrowing capacity has also increased by Rs 1,100 crore along with the hike in the share from the central taxes, which has gone up by Rs 1,000 crore annually," he said.

The government, he said, is also getting financial aid from the Centre through various projects like National Highway, Power and in health sector.
"We had a backlog of payment for the social security schemes like Dayanand Social Security Scheme and Grih Adhar for three months. We have cleared the backlog now and beneficiaries are getting paid regularly," Parsekar said.
He said the current government has "not introduced any new scheme which would strain the state's coffer".

Parsekar said the impact on the finances is due to closure of the mining industry.
He said when he took over the reign of the state in November last year from his predecessor Manohar Parrikar, he (Parrikar) had exhausted all the borrowing limit for the entire year within eight months.
"I could not borrow for remaining four months. The government has now decided to go for borrowing judiciously which is spread over the year. We are dividing the borrowings over the 12 months," he said.
The instalment of the old debt which is left over to the current government is also impacting the finances in a big way, he added.