Mohammad Raafi
KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
The Government Wednesday said it has released Rs 17,008.06 crore to treasuries from April to September 22 this year, while Rs 2111.63 crore is pending for payment in the treasuries of J&K state.
Responding to a question on steps taken to maintain the balanced fiscal position, finance minister Dr Haseeb Drabu said that the government has initiated a number of measures to instutionalise the path of fiscal correction and consolidation.
These measures have been introduced both in the processes as well as policy frame work. “In the areas of policy, these include measures such as rationalization of tax structure, revision of stamp duty, e-stamping, charging of Guarantee fee, introduction of new pension scheme and reforms in VAT administration through wide spread usage of e-governance tools for better fiscal management,” Drabu said in a written reply.
Dr Drabu further said that the government has taken a major step towards fiscal consolidation that of reschedulement of outstanding block loans at a uniform and revised rate of 7.5% for a period of 20 years that will result n a saving of Rs. 115 crore per annum in the interest payment.
“One of the key focus of this government since taking over has been to improve the quality of expenditure management and timely allocation of resources. The finance department has devised new tools of expenditure authorization, expenditure re validation and advance drawls. The management of the liquidity in the treasuries is rigorously monitored on daily basis at the highest level in the department,” Dr Drabu said.
Replying to another question on the purchase of 110 SUV’s for ministers and HODs, the minister said that the government has not approved any such order. However, the home department has been authorized to purchase 100 Mahindra Scorpios’ for Hon’ble MLA’s and MLC’s for the reason that the existing vehicles have either got severely damaged in the last year floods or are now too old to be economically viable.
