Aizawl: Mizoram Finance Minister H Liansailova on Thursday presented annual budget of the state for the
current fiscal amounting to Rs 4,216.09 crore with an estimated closing deficit of Rs 30.75 crore in the state
legislature.
While Rs 1,700 crore was allotted by the planning commission as the state annual plan outlay, the non-plan
component amounted to Rs 2,410.27 crore and the devolution of fund expected from North Eastern Council (NEC) and Centre sponsored scheme were Rs 54.90 crore and Rs 50,90 crore respectively.
In his budget speech, Liansailova said Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) was projected to grow at 9.57 percent during 2010-11 while National economy was projected to grow at 8.6 per cent during the same period.
He said the projection of GSDP for the current fiscal at the current prices stood at 7,216.75 crore and described
the growth rate as quite encouraging.
He, however, said that the Economic Survey shows, for the current financial year, that the services sector continue
to be the dominating sector with its share of 59.47 per cent, followed by industries sector at 21.97 per cent and
agriculture sector at 18.56 per cent.
"There is a slight improvement in industrial sector in comparison with the growth rate of the previous year," he
said, however, adding that the agriculture sector shows a declining growth rate and the government should invest more on industries and agriculture sectors for balanced growth.
Liansailova announced that he allocated Rs 1,000 lakh to be utilised at the rate of Rs 25 lakh per assembly
constituency under the MLA local area development scheme.
The flagship programme of Congress government in the state - New Land Use Policy (NLUP) - remained the top priority of the government, he said, adding that Rs 234.82 crore was allocated for implementation of the programme during 2010-11 while Rs 234 crore was again allocated for continuation of the programme during the current fiscal.
The finance minister proposed several measures to increase the state's resources by upward revision of tax and
non-tax revenues.
He said that while the sales tax levied on petrol, diesel and LPG were already hiked, upward revision of user charges on water supply and various taxes under the state transport department was being processed.
Compulsory registration of all revenue collected documents on land holdings and of labourers and casual
employees were also being pursued, he said, adding that the state government also intended to collect certain percentage of the salary from its regular employees.
The regular budget presentation was necessitated by the presentation of interim budget by the chief minister Lal
Thanhawla in March last, who sought vote-on-account for the first four months of the current fiscal due to non-fixation of the state annual plan outlay by the Planning Commission at that time.
Recently allotted Finance portfolio by the chief minister Lal Thanhawla, this is the first ever budget presented by Liansailova, a former IAS officer, who became a cabinet minister after the landslide victory of the Congress in the 2008 assembly polls.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, July 14, 2011, 15:49