Our Correspondent
Kohima | February 26
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today said that the present budget is not different from what it used to be during the time of the previous governments.
“But the focus and thrust areas are different, the programs and policies reflecting our priorities,” said Rio in his reply after general discussion on budget presented by him on February 25.
Rio clarified that though the total supplementary amount proposed is Rs. 2154.20 crore, the actual net increase under various categories is Rs. 109.39 crore only in RE 2018-19 over BE 2018-19. The seemingly huge difference of Rs. 2044.81 crore is because of savings under one Demand cannot be adjusted in another Demand, because of which supplementary is required.
Savings in Revenue Section cannot be adjusted in Capital Section or vice-versa even within the same demand, he said.
Responding to several members raising on the problem of shortage of shortage of teachers in the schools of Eastern Nagaland, he said “I agree that although B.Ed courses will begin, it will take some time before the problem of getting qualified teachers is addressed satisfactorily.”
He assured the members from Eastern Nagaland that the state government will not leave the matter unattended, and will try to put in place a workable arrangement.
We will also continue with the exercise to rationalize and redeploy teachers, he said.
Regarding upgradation of Khelhoshe Polytechnic to an Engineering College, Rio said the State Government has raised this matter with the Fifteenth Finance Commission and the same was figured in the Supplementary Memorandum and requested for grant of Rs. 75 crore for facilitating upgradation of the Polytechnic to a full- fledged Engineering College.
‘Not entertainment ‘
On Opposition leader dismissing the budget as “An entertainment budget” with nothing for the welfare of the people, Rio said “Perhaps he is not happy at the importance we are according to our youth and the unique cultural heritage because of which people from all over the world are coming to experience.”
He said that it is clear that the Hornbill Festival has the potential of positively impacting our people on a large scale. He said festivals and celebrations and tourism are all about work culture.
He said PDA government has put in place path breaking initiatives for our youth to promote entrepreneurship, sports and merit to give a deserving room to our youngsters to make their mark. These are areas that have been neglected for many years, ignoring the fact that unless we build up our youth, the future will hold no promise, Rio said.
In the Sports sector, we are determined to provide a platform to our youth to prove their mettle, Rio said. Towards this objective, he said Government have decided to make the Dr. T. Ao Tournament an annual feature. The North East T. Ao Tournament will be held from 8- 14 April 2019.
“We are expecting to complete the work of installation of floodlights at Indira Gandhi Stadium by the end of March. This will facilitate holding of day and night matches, he said.
The department is also in the process of commencing the micro light aircraft flying trainings by March or April 2019 once the Airports Authority of India complete the taxiway.
On C.L. John expressing concerns over the diminishing allocations under DUDA, he said the budget allocation during 2018-19 was Rs. 21 crore. The allocation for the current year is Rs. 23 crore. This is an increase of 9.5% over the previous year.
He also clarified that during 2018-19 the Central Government had so far released an amount of Rs. 33.96 crore under BADP.
The total receipts during 2017-18 was Rs. 32.15 crore. We are estimating that receipts under this program during 2019-20 will be about Rs. 42 crore.
