Bengal govt curbs upper limit of expenditure approved for departmental projects

Kolkata, July 10 (IANS) The cash-strapped condition of the state exchequer in West Bengal became evident on Thursday, with the state government issuing a notification significantly curtailing the upper limit for sanction of expenditure concerning several developmental projects under different state government departments.

The state government had made it clear that the departmental secretaries would be able to give sanction for expenditure only up to that curtailed limit and any expenditure required beyond that limit would have to be sanctioned by the State Finance department.

The departments that come under the new and curtailed sanction limit include important departments like public works department, irrigation, panchayat and rural development, health and family welfare, municipal affairs and urban development, north Bengal development, and housing, among others.

An insider from the State Finance department said that this curtailment in the upper limit for sanction of expenditure by the departmental secretaries concerned became necessary since some departments had been randomly resorting to unnecessary expenditure without bothering for the source of funds which is the state expenditure.

He also added that at times even proper evaluation of the justification of different departmental expenditures was not done and in such a situation curtailing the limit of sanction of expenditure by the departmental secretaries concerned was necessary.

However, the Opposition BJP had claimed that the actual intention of the state government was to curtail the expenditure under important heads related to essential public services and divert them for spending under different freebie schemes and entertainment-related expenditures like annual donations for all the Durga Puja communities in the state keeping in mind the crucial Assembly elections in the state next year.

Economists too find the logic behind the argument raised by the BJP.

"In the last state Budget this year, there was no announcement for enhancing the amount paid under Lakshmir Bhandar, the monthly dole scheme of the state government to the women of the state. In all probability, a mid-term announcement will be made by the Chief Minister on enhancing the payment under Lakshmir Bhandar a few months before the state Assembly elections. So probably, the funds are being reserved for that," a city-based economist said.

--IANS

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