OdishaPlus Bureau
“The state govt has opted to go for market borrowing to meet the burden of the expenditure in health and other sectors amid the Coronavirus lockdown”, briefed Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy. The decision was taken at the Council of Ministers meeting chaired by CM Naveen Pattnaik through video conferencing mode.
It was also brought to notice that the state has already taken approval from the Centre for the loans. The funds will be sanctioned from Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). Earlier, the state had already borrowed more than ₹1000 crore from OMBADC. The total borrowing of the current fiscal in the first three months now stands at ₹4830 crores including ₹3000 from open market and ₹1830 crores from OMBADC.
Till June 2020, the revenue collection saw a deep fall by 22.94%. The state had already spent around ₹1912 crores on COVID management that includes ₹624 crores from State Disaster Response Fund and ₹340 crores from Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
The Council of Ministers have given their approval for whatever expenditure is required for the health department. They believe the higher expenditure than the budgeted expenditure will generate more employment for the vulnerable groups considering the plight of returnee migrant labourers.
However, agriculture and allied sectors will be givwn more priority. Similarly, all the ongoing projects will continue and focus will be on the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund projects.