TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Within a month of assuming charge as Chief Minister, Laxmikant Parsekar is dogged by a financial crunch. The State treasury is short of nearly Rs 300 crore, as salaries are to be released to government servants and other monetary benefits to beneficiaries of various social schemes, before Christmas.
As is customary, the government releases salaries and pensions to government servants and beneficiaries of social schemes by the end of every month. It’s only in December, when the monetary benefits are released by December 24.
“Since the iron ore e-auction process has been halted, and revenue generation in prime departments like excise, commercial and transport is yet to scale up, we have a tough task to bridge the revenue gap,” a senior Secretariat official said. He also said that the new central legislation has clamped down on easy availing of loan from the open market.
“Earlier, we use to release salaries on time while the money under social schemes was delayed. But now due to the festive season, we have to release all amounts simultaneously,” the official disclosed.
According to information, Rs 185 crore is required to pay salaries of civil servants, another Rs 40 crore is required to pay pensions and Rs 10 crore for dearness allowance. Similarly, government has to allocate Rs 26 crore under the Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSSS), Rs 15 crore for Griha Adhar scheme and Rs 10 crore for mining affected persons apart from other pending bills.
This December, government is expecting to earn around Rs 150 crore from registration fees for renewal of mining leases since it has already signed lease agreements with 12 mining leases. “More than 40 percent of overall revenue generation is spent on development, while another 10-15 percent on repayment of loans,” the official said.
According to information given to Goa Assembly in August 2014, the government borrowings went up by almost Rs 300 crore between March and June 2014, with total liabilities of the State, including market loan and other borrowings, adding up to Rs 9,302 crore as on June 30, while it spent a whopping Rs 9,900 crore on development.
