Bhubaneswar: The state government has decided to present its 2016-17 fiscal proposals during the Budget session of Orissa Legislative Assembly (OLA) commencing March 15.
Speaker Niranjan Pujari who attended an all-party meeting convened in connection with the Budget session said “A complete budget will be tabled this fiscal after March 15.”
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Narasingha Mishra said, “The budget session is likely to commence from March 15. The Finance minister will present Appropriation Bill for the first two months which will be passed by March 31 while the draft of the full budget for the remaining 10 months will be sent to Assembly Standing Committee, which would suggest modifications by April 25 and accordingly the bill will be tabled.”
“Changes, if need be, can be incorporated in the Budget on the recommendations of the Committee before the Budget is tabled,” he said, adding, “The budget this time will be modelled upon Parliamentary Budget.”
Mishra, who hailed the state government decision, said “Now the state government can focus on the priority areas if it wants to spend more.”
For the first time, the state will present the full-fledged Budget after presentation of Budget in Parliament.
According to sources, the government is planning to bring in a full-fledged budget with two appropriations to avoid confusion and by doing so it will have a clear picture of what the state will get from Central budget before tabling the state budget for 10 months.
Speaking on the deviation of budget for the coming fiscal, finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat said, “It was easier for us during the Planning Commission days to anticipate Central grants, which is not possible now under Niti Ayog. Last year, funding pattern of various Central schemes to states underwent a drastic change. We’ll wait for the Centre to present the Budget in Parliament and accordingly we will get our budget drafted.”
“By doing so we may have an inkling of what we may derive from Central Budget and accordingly we may allocate funds for various sectors,” Amat said after the all-party meeting.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Basant Panda greeted the move saying, “This will help the state government.”
Members of all political parties attended the event. However, Congress chief whip Taraprasad Bahinipati said, “I oppose the all-party meeting as this should have been convened by the chief minister instead of Speaker.”
Speaker Pujari, however, said, “The Speaker can convene an all-party meeting on any matter related to the Assembly.”
PNN
