Infrastructure outlays still disappoint

The West Bengal state budget has come as a major disappointment as far as the infrastructure sector is concerned for the document presented by Asim Dasgupta offered only limited support to the sector.

This happened deapite the fact that the finances of the state had improved over the years.

Overall, West Bengal's ratio of revenue deficit to revenue receipts has come down from 90.95 per cent in 1999-2000 to 25.95 per cent in 2007-08.

The ratio of fiscal deficit to SDP fell from 8.66 per cent in 1999-2000 to 4.04 per cent in 2007-08 and the aggregate of salary, pension and interest payment as percentage of revenue receipts has fallen from 152.71 per cent in 1999-2000 to 89.84 per cent in 2007-08.

Dasgupta did say, "Emphasis will be placed on improvement of infrastructure, in particular, irrigation, drainage, roads and power, so that common farmers and entrepreneurs can get access to these facilities".

Here are some examples of his infrastructure outlays.

The erosion caused by the Bhagirathi River, particularly in the districts of Burdwan and Nadia, would be tackled through allocation of an additional amount of Rs 33 crore in the next year to mitigate this problem.

In the matter of construction and improvement of irrigation embankments, necessary linkage would be established with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

Having increased the plan outlay of the Irrigation and Waterways Department from Rs 340 crore in the current year to Rs 400 crore in the next year, an additional sum of Rs 20 crore was set aside for establishing necessary linkage with the National Rural Employment

Guarantee Programme, raising the overall plan outlay of the Irrigation and Waterways Department to Rs 420 crore.

Till 2006, West Bengal had a total number of 1,439 industrial units in the organised large and medium industries sectors with a realised investment of Rs. 32,631.87 crore had commenced production.

At the end of the year 2007, the total number of such units has increased to 1,730 and the total realised investment has increased to Rs. 37,704.13 crore.

The state received fresh investment proposals worth Rs. 2.28 lakh crore in areas relating to iron and steel, food processing, manufacture of vehicles, etc., with most to be realised within the next five years.

This would entail acquisition of land and displacement of people.

To tackle this, a special amount of Rs. 100 crore for the purpose of creating a Special Assistance Fund for imparting job-oriented training and extending other necessary forms of assistance to land losers.

In parallel, the plan outlay of the Commerce and Industries Department from Rs 200 crore in the current year to Rs 350 crore in the next year while outlay of the Information Technology Department was raised from Rs 56.50 crore in the current year to Rs 71.29 crore in the next year.

For development of 54 clusters in the field of small scale industries, handloom industries, rural industries and handicrafts has been started in various districts in the current year, the plan outlay of the Micro and Small Scale Enterprises and Textiles Department rose from Rs 74 crore in the current year to Rs 121 crore in the next year.

Development of common infrastructure, particularly, improvement of roads and bridges and power situation, were recognized as being essential for sustainable growth and employment generation in agriculture and industries but allocations were small given the terrible condition of state highways and village roads in the states and the larger number of damaged or collapsed bridges and culverts.

Of the construction of 116 bridges and railway flyovers through Public Works and Public Works (Roads) Department had been taken up during the Tenth Plan period (2002-07), only 102 bridges and flyovers were completed and six will be completed in the next year and the remaining ones will be completed in the following year.

During the Eleventh Plan period (2007-12), construction of 96 additional bridges and flyovers has been targeted.

Out of these, preparatory steps for 10 bridges and flyovers would kickstart so that work could commence in the next year while construction of the remaining bridges would be taken up thereafter.

In the case of roads, against a target of improvement of 3,080km of road during the Eleventh Plan period, work in respect of 250km has been completed in the current year itself, and work in respect of another 669km will be completed in the next year.

If the road works undertaken by the Public Works Department are dovetailed with schemes taken up under the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme, it will be possible to increase the output in both the cases, said Dasgupta.

Despite emphasis on comprehensive improvement of roads, and the need for linkage between the two types of schemes, an additional amount of Rs 20 crore only was sanctioned for the next year.

The plan outlay of the Public Works and Public Works (Roads) Department, was raised from Rs 665 crore in the current year to a paltry Rs 720 crore.

The plan outlay of the Transport Department was also raised from Rs 128 crore in the current year to Rs 147 crore only in the next year.

The Power Department was aiming for installation of an additional capacity of 1,570MW within the next one year to improve the balance between the demand and supply of power, but provisioning for this was meagre.

Revenue collection of West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) increased to Rs 5,300 crore in the current year and the target for the next year was Rs 6,090 crore, with profit of about Rs 364 crore in the current year against a loss of Rs 686 crore in 2001-02, and estimated profit for the next year at Rs 628 crore.

Plan outlay for the power sector was raised from Rs 1,699 crore in the current year to Rs 2,061.73 crore in the next year but this included internal resources of the power utilities to the tune of Rs 1,006 crore.

Ignoring the fact that few urban development schemes in the state were getting funded and the state was missing out on centrally funded joint projects, the outlays for the Municipal Affairs Department was raised from Rs 800 crore in the current year to Rs 915 crore in the next year and plan outlay of the Urban Development Department from Rs 958 crore in the current year to Rs 1,102 crore in the next year.

The state's total plan outlay rose from Rs 9,683 crore in the current year by 23.6 per cent to Rs 11,966 crore in the next year.

Though admitting the need to develop infrastructure, Dasgupta complained none of the outstanding problems of the State has been resolved.

The share of Central taxes to the states has not been increased from its low level of 30.5 per cent, and the unjust burden of the Central loans on the States, particularly connected with the small savings loan, had not been lessened.