The NPF on Monday accused the Neiphiu Rio-led People’s Democratic Alliance government of failing to provide any answers to the queries sought by Opposition leader T.R. Zeliang during the recently concluded budget session.
The NPF sought to apprise the public about the queries sought by Zeliang.
The media cell of the Opposition party, in a release, alleged Rio, who also hold the Finance portfolio, had failed to provide any answer to the queries sought by the Opposition leader related to the budget 2019-20 which was presented on February 25.
Zeliang, during the debate on the budget, had pointed out anomalies in the GST collection, saying it was showing diminishing returns.
He said in 2017-18, the GST collection was 25 per cent but decreased to 11.4 per cent in 2018-19 and further estimated at 9.72 per cent in 2019-20.
The Opposition leader sought to know from the chief minister why the GST in the state was projected to be low.
The NPF said the chief minister failed to come up with any answers on the floor of the Assembly following which he was asked by the Opposition leader to publish his answers in the local dailies.
However, nothing has been clarified in the local dailies till date, the party said.
The NPF claimed that before the introduction of GST, the NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland government had introduced online system on Central Sales Tax (CST) which showed the growth rate of 19.60 per cent in 2017-18.
Rio on the floor of the House said Rs 735.84 crore additional fund, which included re-imbursement amount of Rs 220.09 crore, was released from April 1, 2018 till date.
When Zeliang asked how the remaining amount of Rs 514.75 crore after deduction of re-imbursement amount of Rs 220.09 crore was spent and through which department, the chief minister failed to give any answer, the NPF said.
It added despite the request by the Opposition leader to publish the same in local dailies due to paucity of time during the debate, the chief minister has failed to clarify till date.
Zeliang had also queried why the finance department had failed to specify the break-up amount or the scheme under which re-imbursement had taken place. This question also remained unanswered as well, the release said.
On how the government was planning to minimise its employees, Rio provided no answer.
The chief minister in his budget speech said developmental activities of the state were being hindered since a huge amount of fund is used for payment of government employees’ salary and therefore the government would downsize its employees.
The NPF said the chief minister also failed to answer queries why release of Rs 1 crore earmarked for Kiphire aspirational district delayed, why ex-gratia for students announced last year failed to see the light of the day till date and how Rs 53.75 crore, released by the Centre under special plan assistance (SPA) during the early part of 2018, and another instalment of Rs 226.81 crore released during January 2019 against the backlog of SPA, were utilised.