Mizoram budget increases MLAs development fund to Rs 30 lakh

The Mizoram government proposed increasing the MLA Local Area Development Scheme fund by Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30 lakh and an outlay of Rs 370 crore under its flagship new land use policy in the budget presented in the Assembly today.
State Finance Minister H Liansailova while presenting the Rs 5,245.34-crore the budget said that though the Planning Commission was yet to allocate the state annual plan outlay for 2013-14, he presented a regular budget without vote-on- account in the final year of the current ministry's tenure.
The budget comprised of non-plan provision of Rs 2,945.11 crore, plan allocation of Rs 2,300 crore and centrally sponsored scheme (CCS) of Rs 22.86 lakh.

During his 80-minute budget speech, Liansailova said he kept the plan size the same as the current fiscal's plan allocation at Rs 2,300 crore though it was expected that the Planning Commission would increase the plan allocation by at least ten per cent.
He said the revenue surplus was estimated at Rs 381.81 crore and the fiscal deficit at Rs 73.65 crore.
Requirements for salary under non-plan, plan and others (CSS, North East Area and Non-lapsable central pool of resources) were Rs 1,902.11 crore which was 35.24 per cent of the estimated total expenditure, he said, adding requirements for pension charges and interest payments were estimated at Rs 250.17 crore and Rs 248.48 crore respectively.

The budget proposed to increase the MLA Local Area Development Scheme from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh per MLA with the total allocation for the scheme at Rs 12 crore.

Liansailova also said Rs 600 lakh was allocated for Lunglei High Power Committee IN south Mizoram's Lunglei district, while Rs 500 lakh was allocated for the District Planning Committees of five districts and another Rs 300 lakh for the Sinlung Hill Development Council.
The Mizoram finance minister said the New Land Use Policy (NLUP), the flagship prgramme of the ruling Congress in the state, remained the top priority of the government and the budget earmarked an outlay of Rs 370 crore for the next fiscal.

"Out of the target of 1.2 lakh families, a total 96,139 families have been covered during the first two years and the remaining 29,862 families were being covered during the current financial year," he said.
The Planning Commission has been requested to enhance the number of beneficiaries by 15,000 due to increase in the number of eligible families.
Liansailova also presented the supplementary demand for the current fiscal amounting to Rs 967.08 crore and the supplementary demand for regularisation of excess expenditure during 2008-2009 and 2009-10.