Minister for Finance, Labour & Employment, Dr Haseeb Drabu has stressed the need for keeping liabilities under check and to ensure that the projects are taken up in consonance with the resource allocations to avoid unwarranted fiscal liabilities.This was stated by the Finance Minister while chairing a meeting to discuss the expenditure and liability position of various key departments.The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary B B Vyas, Principal Secretary Finance Naveen K Choudhary, Principal Secretary Higher Education Asgar Samoon, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rohit Kansal, Administrative Secretaries and senior officers of Finance and concerned departments.During the meeting, detailed discussions were held regarding expenditure and liability position of various key departments including Housing & Urban Development, Higher Education, Power Development, R&B and School Education.The meeting was informed that most of the departments have utilized 50 percent of the budgetary allocation for the current fiscal.Addressing the administrative secretaries, Dr Drabu emphasized on strict implementation of budget directives to ensure expenditure upto 70 percent till 3rd quarter and rest 30 percent in the last quarter of the fiscal year. He asked the administrative secretaries to accelerate the utilization of resources allocated in the budget.
He asked the officers to adhere to the guidelines of the Finance Department and ensure that unnecessary liabilities are not created. He also asked for identification of core issues that lead to creation of liabilities.“Expenditure management and monitoring system needs to be put in place while making expenditure,” Dr Drabu said adding that expenditure should be backed up with financial allocations to avoid unwarranted fiscal liabilities.Under regular Capex budget in the State sector, the Government has released 42 percent uptoNovember 2017 compared to the last year level of 28 percent, the meeting was informed.It was agreed in the meeting that under Revised Estimates, allocation of cities and towns shall be enhanced by Rs 200 crore to be met from the savings od Rs 160 crore and another Rs 40 crore by exceeding the resources.It was also agreed that for next year the allocation under regular Capex and State Share (Loan, CSS and PMDP) shall be maintained at Rs 5250 crore.