Team Herald
MARGAO: The Rs 8.96 lakh surplus budget approved by the Betalbatim gram sabha on Sunday appears to be a mere jugglery of figures without actual application of mind and in fact the actual expenditure and receipts for 2018-19 are not even mentioned in the budget estimates, say some villagers.
The panchayat has performed pretty well in collection of taxes, but has just juggled the figures for the estimates of the current financial year. Of the estimated collection of Rs 11 lakh by way of the house tax, the panchayat collected Rs 9.38 lakh and expects to collect Rs 12 lakh this year.
Similarly it collected Rs 9.14 lakhs of the expected Rs 10 lakh by way of trade tax and has projected to collect Rs 12 lakhs during the current year.
and though it collected only Rs. 16,000 as light tax of the expected Rs 25,000 the estimated collection this year too has been kept at Rs 25,000, disclosed a source.
While only the garbage grants have been shown realistically at Rs 5 lakh as promised by the government, collections from Rental Tax and Entertainment Tax are kept the same as it was projected for the year 2018-19 even though not even one rupee was collected under these heads, another source disclosed.
The jugglery in figures can be seen in the other receipts where though the panchayat has collected about half the estimated amount for last year, the projection for the current year is shown higher just to give the surplus in the budget, the source claimed.
The panchayat received Rs 44,000 as fees on beach shacks/stalls against the expected amount of Rs 50,000 last year and yet for the current year the projected receipts are Rs 1.10 lakh, the source further added.
Even figures that can be actually calculated like the bank interest, just the same amount that was expected to be collected last year, namely Rs 2.50 lakh is projected while the actual interest that accrued was Rs 1.84 lakhs, the source disclosed further.
The casual manner in which the budget has been prepared is evident as the panchayat though it paid Rs 18,102 towards the water bill against the estimated amount of Rs 3,000 last year; for the current year again the projection is an expenditure of Rs 3,000 only.
Ironically even though only one villager had asked for a copy of the audit report to be provided, the sarpanch promised to provide it at the next gram sabha thus depriving villagers an opportunity to read the budget estimate in connection with what the auditors had to say about it.
