Gogoi presents interim budget in poll-bound Assam

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today presented a Rs 33,687.43 crore interim Budget for the first six months of 2016-17 financial year urging the Centre for more support to tide over the state's financial crisis.
"To defray the obligatory and other necessary expenses, I seek Vote-on-Account on the demand for grants for an aggregate amount of Rs 33,68,743.21 lakh for the period from 1st of April, 2016 to 30th September, 2016," Gogoi said during his presentation speech in the assembly.
Gogoi, who is also the Finance Minister, presented the interim Budget as the five-year term of his government will expire on May 15 and Assembly polls are due in the coming few months.

He said the development of the state must be facilitated by the Central government "in the true spirit of cooperative federalism".
"We hope and expect that our state will get the much needed support from the Central government in this regard," Gogoi said.
He, however, criticised the Centre saying there has been a fund crisis as a result of abrupt change in policy decisions initiated by the present NDA government in 2014, including abolition of the Planning Commission.

"Although Planning Commission has been replaced by NITI Aayog, which is stated to be a purely advisory body, it has failed to give clear cut guidelines to the states for preparing it's Annual Plan. As a result, special category states like Assam have been facing serious problem of plan fund crisis," he said.

Gogoi also said less budgetary provision of some central schemes and changing of funding pattern in some schemes to ahigher level of state share from 90:10 earlier have led to fund crunch.
The Chief Minister informed that the provisional collection of sales tax till December 2015 stood at Rs 6,190.74 crore as against Rs 5,783.87 crore in the same period last fiscal.
"VAT collection of the department during 2014-15 was Rs 6,859.24 crore as against Rs 6,288.54 crore during 2013-14 showing an increase of Rs 570.70 crore," he added.
In the current fiscal up to November, the excise collection stood at Rs 463.66 crore, in addition to Rs 275.45 crore collected as liquor VAT, a rise of 13.84 per cent over the same period last fiscal.