The State Council of ministers today approved a truncated Supplementary Budget for 2014-15 pegged at Rs 3,860 crore, 46 per cent lower than Rs 7,144.58 crore in the last fiscal as tepid revenue collection weighed on the state finances.
Agriculture sector has the highest share in the Supplemental Budget at Rs 172 crore. The Budget has a provision of Rs 15 crore for the upcoming Nabakalebar festival of Jagannath Temple, Puri in 2015.
Revenue collection since the beginning of this fiscal has consistently fallen short of targets, prompting the state government to settle for a Supplementary Budget with reduced size.
"Our revenue collection has been less than the envisaged target. Still, we have five months in our hand. We would make all efforts to meet the target," said state finance minister Pradeep Amat.
Steel & mines minister Prafulla Mallick said, "Mining revenue collection has not kept up to the target. We have called a meeting of mine lessees on November 18 to discuss ways to achieve the target." The state government's overall revenue growth in the April-September period of 2014-15 remained flat as mining levy collection, the single biggest contributor to the non-tax basket, shrank 20.62 per cent.
Mining revenue by September end stood at Rs 2,049.99 crore against a collection of Rs 2,582.46 crore in the same period last year. The downtrend in mining revenue has cast doubts on the achievement of Budgetary target of Rs 6,346.98 crore from the sector.
In this backdrop, the state's overall revenue has increased by only 2.12 per cent, from Rs 10,295.91 crore to Rs 10,513.73 crore in the first half of the current fiscal. The deceleration in mining revenue has particularly impacted non-tax revenue collection, where earnings have plunged 17.43 per cent to Rs 2,673.99 crore from Rs 3,238.34 crore in the year-ago period. The other non-tax revenue segments with noticeable slide in collection are education (59.14 per cent), major irrigation (39.14 per cent) and minor irrigation (17.19 per cent).
Taking note of this sluggish collection, the finance department while inviting proposals for Supplementary Budget, had ruled out substantive provisions.
Large scale surrender of Supplementary provisions in 2012-13 and 2013-14 was also factored in while cutting allocations. During 2012-13 and 2013-14, the departments had surrendered Rs 2,854.04 crore and Rs 1,701.53 crore compared to the supplementary provision of Rs 2,677.21 crore and Rs 2,809.85 crore respectively.
