Only 70 pc of budget funds spent, says Parrikar

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today said that only 70 per cent of the funds allocated in the last budget were spent by the state government, lower than what he expected.
"The review of the last budget indicates that 70-72 per cent of the plan funds were spent during the last year. I would have loved it to be 80-85 per cent," Parrikar said, talking to reporters here.
Ideally, 90 per cent of the funds should be spent, but that usually does not happen, he said.
Parrikar, who also holds the finance portfolio, would present budget on March 18 when the Assembly session starts.

Some unforeseen circumstances led to government not spending the funds, he said.
"I am not denying that there is a problem. But these problems were unforeseen," he said, referring to the halt to the mining which caused revenue loss of Rs 650 Crore.
But the things had begun to fall in place now, he added. Last time, he had not much time while preparing the budget as he had just taken over following the elections, but now he had enough time, he said.
These days, the Chief Minister said, he gets only three hours' sleep a day, as he is busy drafting the budget.