Tax-free, deficit budget presented in Meghalaya Assembly

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma Tuesday tabled a Rs 1,223 crore tax-free, deficit budget in the Assembly for 2019-2020.

Sangma, who holds the Finance portfolio, said the government has accorded highest priority to improve revenue collection and a committee has been set up to methodically look into all issues of collections.

The government has also given priority to human development and health, besides livelihood programmes and improvement of connectivity.

The government intends to set up IT-enabled systems for weighing of vehicles at gates and QR codes for transport challans in the next fiscal year to improve tax collections which are estimated at Rs 2,090 crore for tax revenue and Rs 601 crore for non-tax revenue, Sangma said.

He said the new GST regime has started to stabilise and has contributed to the ease of doing business.

The government has also created a window agency for ease of doing business and it approved 59 projects with investments of Rs 2,830 crore and providing employment to 2,525 youths, the chief minister said.

He informed the Assembly that the government is in the process of planning the Meghalaya Integrated Transport Sector Project with an external aid of Rs 1,050 crore.

The project will integrate all modes of transports