Overdraft of Rs 274 Cr returns to haunt State Govt
Ban put on transactions, appointments
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 12 2019: After the N Biren led BJP Government ran into its first case of overdraft to the amount of a staggering Rs 274.46 crore, the RBI has put a ban on all kinds of sanctions as well as appointments in all the Departments of the State Government from today.

The RBI's move has also led to fund movements in the State Government coming to a complete standstill.

It may be mentioned that the ban came after the wage and means figure of Rs 195 crore fixed by RBI for Manipur was exceeded.

As the State Government is facing a financial crisis, all kinds of appointments have been put on hold.

An office memorandum issued by the Principal Secretary of Department of Personnel today, has directed all the Departments, agencies, societies, undertakings, boards, corporations to cease all regular, contract, casual and adhoc appointments immediately.

It also instructed that no kind of recruitment process can be taken up without approval from the Department of Personnel.

On the other hand, Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar, who is also in-charge of Finance, claimed that the overdraft situation is nothing to be worried or concerned about and the overdraft will be cleared within this month.

Speaking to The Sangai Express at his office chamber today, Joykumar said that he and the officials of the Finance Department (Finance) have minutely analysed the issue and explained that overdrafts usually happen at the beginning of every financial year but are usually managed by clearing the overdraft with funds borrowed from the open market.

He informed that in the last financial year, the State tried to borrow Rs 400 crore from the open market but got only Rs 350 crore.

This financial year, the State Government aimed to get the same amount as the last financial year but only received an amount of Rs 203 crore.

This low amount of fund created a large gap, he explained.

Joykumar continued that in the last financial year, around Rs 340 crore were received as Central share per month but this financial year only Rs 305 crore were received as Central share.

Previously, the State received Rs 170 crore as Revenue Deficit Grant from the Central Government but this year, the State received only Rs 161 crore, he added explaining that the State got around Rs 44 crore less than what it should have received.

Speaking about the Central sponsored scheme, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the State received Rs 163 crore in April and Rs 430 crore in May last year but this financial year, the State got Rs 258 crore in April and only Rs 56 crore in May, which gravely affected the financial condition of the State Government.

Stating that the lack of funding by the Central Government might also be due to the election Model Code of Conduct, Joykumar said that the current overdraft situation faced by the State Government is nothing to be worried about as it will be cleared from the Rs 305 crore which will be received as Central share on June 21.On the other hand, according to a source, Chief Minister N Biren Singh will leave Imphal for Delhi tomorrow, to take part in the Niti Ayog meeting (to be chaired by the Prime Minister) which will be held on June 15.The Chief Minister will meet the Central leaders and might discuss about steps to cure the financial conditions faced the State, the source added.

On the other hand, a Cabinet meeting was held today regarding the issue which was presided by CM N Biren, Dy CM Y Joykumar, Health Minister L Jayantakumar, Agri Minister V Hankhanlian, PHED Minister L Dikho, Education Minister Th Radheshyam, MAHUD Minister Th Shyamkumar.

During the meeting, it was resolved to stop all recruitment and appointment processes until the financial situation recovers.

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