It does appear as if it is their comfort that they are interested in at all times, no matter what the circumstances. The situation is such: there is a financial crunch, there is an advisory from the government to reduce expenditure, and there came the lockdown that further reduced the revenue that the government could collect during the period. Against this background one would naturally expect that the politicos and the bureaucrats would be extra cautious when it came to spending public money, or finding ways to spend public money. Remember that expenditure of the government is met through taxes paid by the people and the loans taken are also paid back from taxes that have been collected. It is the people’s money always. Today, so low are the government coffers despite the borrowings and sale of governemnt bonds, that Goa is now depending on mining funds to meet the expenditure that has arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the midst of the lockdown, there were two instances that have raised eyebrows sharply. In the first instance, the government ciruclated a note to its departments that cleared the increase in the budget for vehicles of politicians and bureaucrats. This note was circulated to the departments as soon as the bureaucracy returned to work in the midst of the lockdown. In the second instance, the Mayor of Panjim picked out a new car for himself again in the middle of the ongoing lockdown. The excuses that hastily came a day after the news broke, in both cases, were rather similar. The government said the circular had been signed before the lockdown but had not been circulated as government did not work for those three weeks. It also said that any applications for new cars would not be cleared at this point of time. The Panjim Mayor said that the car had been booked before the lockdown and since the showrooms had been closed for four weeks the vehicle was delivered when the lockdown was relaxed. He went on to state he would not use the new vehicle during the lockdown period.
This is not restricted to vehicles, but to the manner in which the government overlooks its own advisories. On December 24, 2019, via an office memorandum signed by the Finance Secretary, all departments were asked to effect a 25 per cent cut in Budgetary revenue expenditure excluding interest payment, repayment of debt, payment of salaries and pension. It also advised that not more than 20 per cent of the Budgetary estimates shall be spent in the remaining quarters of the financial year, except under flagship schemes, and wherever possible this too may be reduced by 40 per cent. Very interestingly, the Finance Department imposed a ban on purchase of furniture, electrical appliances, telephone instruments, office vehicles, and directed the Accounts Department not to clear any bills for purchase of such items. How then, did the government raise the spending on purchase of vehicles and how did CCP go ahead and procure a new car for the Mayor?
In effect, there is no rationalisation of expenditure happening in government departments despite the office memorandum to that effect. The State is going through a major economic crisis, that has been aggravated by the COVID-19 lockdown. It is time to impose severe restrictions on government spending, that will curtail all unnecessary expenditure, including purchase of new vehicles. Like it does every year, asking departments to bring down expenses in the last three months of the fiscal, perhaps the government has to do so right now with another office memorandum, that will curb spending. But, as has been experienced, it is not enough to issue a memorandum, there has to be also some vigilance to ensure that it is followed. Can the government rise to the occasion?
