GUWAHATI, Jan 12 - The presentation of the State Budget 2017-18 has been advanced to February 7 and it will have no Non-plan and Plan heads, but only Capital and Revenue.
Announcing this before the media following the Pre-Budget Discussion attended by ministers and officials of various departments at the Assam Administrative Staff College today, State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said 40 per cent of the budgetary allocations has already been spent.
�An amount of Rs 9,000 crore has been spent as on December 31, 2016, and another Rs 11,000 crore will be released by February 28. Instead of Plan (State) head, the government will have a State Own Priority Development (SOPD),� he said.
The pre-Budget discussions reviewed the expenditures of 2016-17. Plan expenditures up to December 31, 2016, stood at Rs 9,348.16 crore (32 per cent) against Rs 6,584.20 crore (23 per cent) up to December 31, 2015.
The current plan expenditure is also 42 per cent more compared to the previous year.
Sarma said that 30 per cent of the expenditure for the next financial year would be spent by the first quarter. An amount of Rs 11,826.82 crore has been fixed (i.e. 40 per cent), to which another Rs 11,000 crore will be added by February 28. During the year 2016-17, the utilisation stood at only 37 per cent.
Sarma said that allocations to various departments have increased by 20 per cent compared to that of 2016-17.
The meeting also discussed the signature projects of the departments concerned with the ministers. The Budget speech was also discussed.
