For the past two years we have been repeatedly told that despite the pause in mining operations and the resultant decrease in government earnings the many schemes that the government introduced have not been stopped or even suffered a bit. The money that the government promised to put into the pockets of the Goan people has been channeled right to the end – the people for whom it mattered. Our politicians have taken pride in telling us this, slapping themselves on their backs and accepting the congratulations of their colleagues and well wishers. Schemes were also started to benefit the ‘mining affected’, those who had lost their livelihood due to the closure of mining operations. Everybody was kept happy and we had absolutely no idea of the costs involved. To underline the State’s fiscal condition the Chief Minister presented a revenue surplus Budget in March this year, though later the government did claim a financial crisis.
Now, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for the year 2013-14 ascribes the revenue deficit to spending on social welfare and loan repayments among other reasons, puncturing the claims of the government and, in a manner of speaking, releasing the gas to reveal the empty boasts of this government. It is more of concern as the deficit occurred when the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) reported a 15.30 percent growth for the year ending March 2014. This government may still, and it will, claim that debt repayment is a problem it inherited from the previous government.
But, surely it can’t just push the spending on social welfare schemes on anybody else, not when the spending on social welfare far exceeds loan repayment. While repayment of public debt for the year 2013-14 was Rs 385.06 crore according to the CAG report, the spending on social welfare was Rs 1863.49 crore, which was very high indeed. In the past three years, since it came to power, this government has started a number of new schemes, doles almost, that keep sections of the people happy with direct cash transfers. The criticism that these schemes drew from the opposition and also from sections of society now appear to be valid and this government will have to do tighten spending in the coming months and years.
Some fiscal measures will have to be taken to ensure that the revenue deficit is bridged. The CAG has recommended that the government reduce its non-productive non-plan revenue expenditure so as to ‘move towards revenue surplus status’. One very significant recommendation of the CAG is that the government ‘formulate guidelines for quick completion of incomplete projects and monitor reasons for time and cost overrun with view to make corrective action’. This is extremely important in Goa given that almost every government project that is begun never meets the deadline and in its delay ends up over shooting the budget. Be it the building of a road or a bridge or a building or even plain repairs of the roads. Take for instance the underpass at Bambolim that is still incomplete, or the road from Miramar to Dona Paula that is making life a living hell for the people on that stretch. These are merely two instances of just how delays of government works also lead to cost overruns, which the taxpayer has to meet. Here is where there is need for some discipline and professionalism in government and administration so that fiscal tightening can be maintained.
Then there is also the question of the misappropriation of funds that the CAG has also brought up. The CAG fears that Rs 178.08 crore pending in abstract contingent bills with 72 departments could have been misappropriated. The amount is pending due to the non submission of detailed contingent bills and the CAG remarks that this has a strong impact on the fiscal indicators of the government. The State’s financial situation is far from optimum. In the coming months, we may well find that the revenue surplus Budget that was presented earlier this year may actually end up being nothing but an illusion.
