For a change, why not ?
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: April 27, 2013 -
With the annual plan outlay of Manipur for the financial year 2013-14 fixed at Rs 3,650 crores, which is just a marginal increase of Rs 150 crores or 4.2 percent from the total annual plan outlay of Rs 3500 crores in previous fiscal year, the displeasure of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh over the finalized plan outlay is understandable.
After all, the State Government had proposed an annual plan outlay of Rs 4396 crores for the fiscal year 2013-14, which is a hike of around 25 percent from the last fiscal year, and Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh was hoping to be blessed with at least Rs 4000 crores if the projected plan size was too much for the Planning Commission to concede.
But the Planning Commission team led by its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had the better of Team Ibobi in convincing that the overall financial position in the country is not so rosy at the moment that the overall increase in the Central Plan over the budgeted estimate was only about 5 percent this time.
So, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh had to condole himself, saying, "…we are not fully satisfied.
But of course, seeing the entire country's financial crunch, we are happy. We are satisfied with this plan size of Rs 3,650 crore."
As a matter of fact, considering the poor financial management of the Government of Manipur which has not been able to fully utilize the allocated plan amount consistently for the last two fiscal years, economic analysts have even written off completely over any possible prospect of an appreciable share in the annual doling out of fund by the Planning Commission of India.
In fact, in the last fiscal year 2012-13, the State Government had to refund more than Rs 650 cores as it could not utilize around 30 percent of the total allocated plan outlay, which, of course, is a meaty amount for a State which depends on fund from the Centre for everything.
So, looking from that angle, and as they say, beggar can't be choosy, one can easily reasoned out the ambiguous 'we are not fully satisfy… but are happy' comments of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh.
Anyway, the main concern over the finalization of the annual State plan outlay at Rs 3650 crores for the current fiscal year should be now focus on how to utilize the sanctioned amount in time and efficiently without giving any room for the usual blame games of 'Centre not releasing the fund in time' or 'UG groups hijacking the sanctioned fund'.
These are becoming too cliché. Well, for a change, to ensure proper utilization of the sanctioned allocated fund in time, let the State Government and its officials, more particularly, the Chief Minister, who also holds the portfolio of Finance, and his 11 wisemen as well as their advisors, may start thinking of some effective financial strategies with proper co-ordination among the different departments.
Fixing of responsibility for financial mismanagement is another area that the State Government should start paying serious attention too, of course, for a change.
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