Neiphiu Rio. (Morung File Photo)
The final day of the 3rd Session of Nagaland Legislative Assembly on February 26. (DIPR Photo)
Our Correspondent
Kohima | February 15
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.
As far as opening of new RD Blocks is concerned, he said the government had recently during the year 2012 increased the number of RD Blocks from 52 to 74 to facilitate better administration and implementation of various schemes under the RD Department.
He said the state government has been pursuing actively for opening of bank branches in all the unbanked blocks, numbering 30 as on date.
For this purpose, he said the government have written to almost all the chairpersons and Managing Directors of the Public Sector as well as Private Sector Banks, including to the Union Secretary of Financial Services of the Government of India.
He said Government of Nagaland had even offered to pay the rent for new bank branches being opened in the unbanked blocks for a period of 5 years.
On road sector, Rio said that the government is carrying out repairs and constructions of good quality.
Regarding the point raised by Eshak Konyak of the need to also repair roads in the Sub-Divisions, he said once the work at the district headquarters level is completed, the government will surely address the problems being faced at the sub-division level also.
He said the state government have requested the Fifteenth Finance Commission as well as with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for funding of the Trans Highway.
On MLA Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu who raised issues about the reduced receipts under MGNREGA, including NLCPR, NEC and EAP, Rio clarified that the receipts under MGNREGA had been adversely affected due to problems relating to opening of bank accounts in order to facilitate Direct Benefits Transfer in which funds would be transferred directly to the accounts of the job card holders.
He said the department is experiencing difficulties in opening bank accounts of the job card holders mainly because “we still have 30 RD Blocks that do not have banking coverage.”
Regarding receipts under NEC, NLCPR and EAP, he clarified that that the anticipated receipts for 2019-20 are Rs. 200 crore, Rs. 140 crore and Rs. 200 crore respectively.
