Nagaland budget 2021-22 is ‘construction budget’ — Opposition

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Feb. 19 (EMN): The members of opposition party on Friday labelled the state budget 2021-22 presented by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, as ‘construction budget’ with no intention to ease the farmers of the state.

Leader of Opposition, TR Zeliang said the budget was “hollow, bereft of innovation” and contains no plans and programmes to reduce the hardship of the common people during a time when the state economy has been ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The budget for 2021-22 is a ‘construction budget’ focused only on construction of infrastructures for various government departments. Hence, maximum profit will go to people at the helms of affairs running the present day PDA government out of it, he stated.

There is no intention to bring welfare-oriented policies and programmes for the general public of the state except construction-related works, he added.

‘The 15th Finance Commission in its report titled ‘Finance Commission in Covid times’ (Vol IV) had reported that Nagaland had the second highest debt in the entire country. This should serve as an alarm to the PDA government because, as per the report, although Nagaland’s Debt/GSDP had reduced from 55.5% in 2011–12 to 42.7 in 2018–19, the 15th FC said that it was still much higher than the National Health Education Standards (NEHS) average of 29.61%. Budget 2021-22 has no provision to decrease the mounting debts of the state but has only worsened the condition of the already debt-ridden state,’ stated Zeliang.

‘Unemployment rate is rising rapidly in the state but the budget has no provisions to ease the burden faced by the unemployed educated youths. The minister in-charge has made tall promises in his budget speech but in reality, the state is facing one of the worst times since statehood,’ he continued.

The former chief minister said that the budget speech neither mentioned funds received nor its utilisation. It is a fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected all sections of the society. However, it is sad to note that there is no mention of the efforts made by the state to redress the grievances of the people. The pandemic has been particularly badly affected the farmers and the business sector yet there is little mention of the assistance that the government plans to provide to help rehabilitation, he added.

Zeliang also pointed out that the budget did not make mention of the Kohima Smart City project and queried on the work progress and the government’s targets for the project.

He criticised the government for not mentioning the JICA project (Japan International Cooperation Agency), for which the first installment were made in 2016-17. ‘It will be pointless to talk about foreign investment in the state when we failed to implement what was sanctioned under externally-aided project,’ he said.

‘This government seems to only delight in extracting more money from the state exchequer and the people of the State in the name of the pandemic. The Covid-19 has been a source of income for the government in many ways. To name a few, there was the fuel price hike in the guise of Covid cess and further the 15% pro-rata cut under non-development plan and another 15% from the development outlay of various departments. However, there is no report of the receipt and the expenditure of the same in the budget presentation. This gives room for huge misappropriation of the funds received from these sources,’ Zeliang added.

MLA Imkong L Imchen, who initiated the discussion on the budget speech, said that with NLA adopting the four-point resolution on Naga political issue, the practical steps should be taken to realise the resolution.

He also said that the fund allocation furnished in the budget speech is mostly on ‘construction sector’. He said that deficit budget is a reality and urged the government to seriously introspect on the matter.

MLA Dr. Chumben Murry lamented that the opening paragraphs of the budget speech sounded more like a beginning of Union Finance Minister’s budget speech, saying that it would have been more impressive if the figures were of state and not otherwise.

However, he appreciated the budget for the consideration done with 9.55% increase over last fiscal budget. He said that year 2020 was unprecedented because of the pandemic, the agri-allied, and social services sectors, mainly education were impacted. Pointing out that the impact on education sector might take some time to perceive, he said that it’s encouraging that some importance has been given to this area in the budget. 

‘Yet, budgetary increase in agri and allied sectors does not commensurate the contraction in economy because of affliction of these sectors. In agriculture and allied, sustenance farming was not that much affected but commercial farming were mainly affected owing to prolonged lockdown. As an agrarian state, the economic revival will depend on agriculture in all forms. The misery of reduced income of the farmers and thereby their reduced purchasing power was compounded by the escalating prices of commodities directly due to lockdown,’ he said. 

Pointing out that the Water Supply dept. is another important area with relation to health and economy of the mass, he expressed sadness at the manpower spent by Nagas on fetching water and money spent on purchasing water at exorbitant rates from private source.

‘If people had adequate water supply system, they can channel these resources for other gainful activities. This situation is one of revenue loss for the state as well as direct loss of economy to the people,’ he said, and suggested that the government to take a relook into the liquor prohibition issue and exploration of natural resources.

“We need to leave our begging bowl and become rational and business minded. We need major economic reforms and not just at certain sectors like power etc.,” he added.

MLA Moatoshi Longkumer criticised for allocation of INR 300 lakh for setting up of model piggery farms, saying that such farm is not relevant to Nagas anymore, as the people have learned enough about it. ‘Rather, why not distribute the earmarked money to farmers for production,’ he asked.

MLA YM Yollow also criticised the government for initiating developmental activities only in Kohima and Dimapur. Warning that Nagaland would capsize if such trend continues, he asked the government to maintain balance in developmental activities in other districts as well.

The legislator also asked to increase budget allocations to the Department of Under Developed Areas.

MLA Dr. Imtiwapang Aier said that the budget allocations came as a surprise as it concentrated mostly on construction of offices, buildings, staff quarters etc. He asked what had prompted the government to focus on construction activities.

Pointing out that focus should be given to health sector, he queried whether the state is prepared to face second outbreak of the pandemic if it comes. The budget didn’t announce any special package for healthcare workers and frontline workers, he added.

The legislator also urged the government to revisit the backward tribe quota, saying that there are underdeveloped regions even among the advanced tribes who suffered untold miseries. Government should identify backward areas in every district and include them in the quota as that would help balance the state, he added.

MLA Yitachu termed the budget speech as the “longest speech” that contain “highest deficit” for the state so far. He described the speech as “same old thing that concentrated mostly on contract-oriented schemes”.

‘The state cannot afford to have such a huge deficit as that would reflect that we as a government and as a people cannot run the government. It will be a shameful thing,’ Yitachu said.

He went on to say that random construction roads in the villages, done under various schemes, are area of concern in the agri-allied sector. This random cutting, he said, hampers the construction of National Highways.

Pointing out that industrialisation is one of the sectors that can generate employment opportunities to the people, he suggested the state government to take up industries and open up routes to neighbouring states and other countries, for business people to carry out trade. 

MLA Dr. Chotisuh Sazo asked the department of Agri-allied sector to give equal distribution of farming machineries to the entire districts. He also brought up the issue of poor network connectivity, particularly in the rural areas, and asked the department concerned to improve network service in the state.