Aizawl: Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga on Monday presented the state annual budget for the financial year 2023-2024 with a total outlay of Rs 14,209.95 crore while laying special emphasis on the state flagship programme- Socio-Economic Development Policy (SEDP) and healthcare scheme.
The CM said the new budget is a zero-deficit as well as a non-surplus budget as the estimated total receipts are exactly equal to the estimated total expenditures.
Neither new taxes have been imposed nor was a proposal to hike the existing rates in the 2023-24 budget.
The CM also presented supplementary demands for the current fiscal (2022-2023) amounting to Rs. 3,265.69 crore.
Addressing a press conference after presenting the annual budget and supplementary demands, Zoramthanga, who also holds the finance portfolio, said that the state economy has been profoundly impacted by the non-receipt of a share of Central taxes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that the government did not receive its share taxes amounting to over Rs 3,000 crore in the last two fiscals- 2021-22 and 2022-23.
“It is indeed delightful to lay such a sizeable budget that is Rs 201.80 crore higher than the 2022-23 budget in spite of financial adversary and in the absence of a substantial project like Rs 600 crore under PM-Devine projects,” the CM said as he presented the annual budget and supplementary demands.
Zoramthanga laid emphasis on SEDP and Rs 595. crore was allocated for the implementation of the flagship programme during 2023-24 fiscal.
Out of Rs 595 crore, Rs 300 crore was allocated for the implementation of family-oriented SEDP in 2023-24. “Under the family-oriented programme, the government has made an arrangement to distribute monetary assistance of Rs 50,000 each to 60,000 families during the current fiscal and the first instalment of the assistance amounting to Rs 25,000 each has been already disbursed to 5,996 beneficiaries,” he said.
“Money (Rs 25, 000 each for the beneficiaries) has been sanctioned for the second instalment, which will be disbursed during the current fiscal,” the CM also told reporters.
He said that his government would also distribute the second phase of family-oriented SEDP assistance to thousands of beneficiaries during the new fiscal 2023-24.
Apart from Rs 300 crore allocated for family-oriented SEDP, Zoramthanga also set aside Rs 220 crore under the flagship programme as counterpart funding for Centrally funded projects, Rs 50 crore for the implementation of the healthcare scheme and Rs. 25 crores was set aside for untied SEDP.
With an additional Rs 10 crore from the state lottery, the total amount allocated for the implementation of the state healthcare scheme is Rs 60 crore, the CM said.
The Zoramthanga government has been severely attacked by the opposition for its failure to pay health insurance amounting to crores of rupees to the beneficiaries.
The chief minister said that his government has sought a loan amounting to Rs. 1,000 crores from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the implementation of the state healthcare scheme.
“The proposal has been approved by the Centre and the said loan is under process,” he told reporters.
Of the total Rs. 14,209.95 crore annual budget, 21.90 per cent (Rs 3,141.19 crore) has been earmarked for capital expenditure and 78.10 per cent (Rs 11,068.76 crore) for revenue expenditure, he said.
While capital expenditure is meant for the creation of assets for the public, revenue expenditure covers mainly salaries and wages, pension expenses, interest payments and power purchases, among others. Rs 60 crore has been allocated for MLA Local Area Development Fund.
To continue the support for preparing brilliant students for All India Service and other Central Service examinations, the chief minister set aside Rs 50 lakh.
“Rs 200 crore was allocated for smooth conduct of state assembly polls due in November, while Rs 5 crore has been set aside for rehabilitation of ex-cadres of Miz National Front, “he said.
According to the chief minister, the State’s Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) in the new fiscal is hoped to increase by 35.32 per cent from the current fiscal and that of the State’s Own Non-tax Revenue (SONTR) by Rs 60.57 crore.
He said that state GST is expected to be the main component of the SOTR.
“The state needs to strive for exploring more space for earning additional revenues as our obligations for revenue expenditure is surging while our much relied upon source, i.e., Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grants is about to fade out in the near future,” he said.
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He said that the main source of revenue of the state comes from state SOTR, SONTR, the share of Central Taxes, Revenue Gap Grants, Grant-in-Aid and Contributions received from the Centre and the total revenue receipt expected to receive from such sources are estimated at Rs 11,486.63 crore.
Zoramthanga also aimed to maintain a revenue surplus of Rs 417.87 crore.
As per the 15th Finance Commission recommendation, the state expected to receive Rs 5,107.25 crore as a share of Central taxes, while the total estimated grants, including post-devolution revenue deficit grant and local body grants, expected to receive from the Centre is Rs 4,398 crore, he said.
“The state also expected to receive Rs 2,670.42 crore under various centrally-sponsored Schemes,” Zoramthanga said.
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