The Arunachal Pradesh government has denied the allegation that the state is facing a financial crunch and several ongoing schemes have been scrapped or dropped.
The allegations were levelled by the All Arunachal Contractor’s Welfare Association (AACWA).
“The government would like to clarify that state’s financial situation is sound and it is committed to work for the people in all the developmental sectors,” a statement from the state’s planning and investment department said on Wednesday.
“The government would never take any decisions which are ‘anti-people’ and ‘anti-development’,” it added.
The government further clarified that the exercise of reduction of allocation of certain schemes under revised estimate (RE) 2019-20 was carried out in the light of reduction in share of Central Taxes which Arunachal receives from the central government.
“In order to ensure prudent fiscal management, the state government decided to defer the expenditure for next financial year,” the statement said.
“The government would also want to categorically clarify that no ongoing schemes have been scrapped or dropped and only the funds allocated in this year’s budget has been restricted and carried forward to the next financial year which was inevitable and unavoidable.”
“For all schemes, where allocations have been reduced at RE stage, adequate fund provisions have been budgeted in the budget estimate (BE) of 2020-21 so that the planned implementation of the schemes can start immediately from the beginning of the next financial year.”
“Moreover, all schemes in RE and BE are finalized in consultation with the departments concerned,” the statement read.
Further, it is clarified that even certain schemes under Department of Karmik and Adhyatmik Affairs (DoKAA) and Department of Tirap, Changlang and Longding (DoTCL) which could not be taken in RE 2019-20 and are being carried to BE 2020-21 for prudent fiscal management.
“The entire exercise carried in RE 2019-20 was necessitated to maintain financial prudence in order to ensure a sound financial health which is the ‘top priority’ of the state government,” the statement said.
The AACWA had on Monday asked the state government to publish a white paper on the financial status of the state in view of the “maximum cut” in development schemes for the current fiscal (2019-20).
Stating that the contractors are facing financial burden due to the discontinuation of many schemes during 2019-20, the association had also alleged that many of these schemes have been left out due to which the executing department couldn’t release payments of the contractors.
It also claimed none of the schemes under the DoKAA and DoTCL were left out.