(Eds: Adds inputs) Guwahati, Mar 16 (PTI) The Assam government on Wednesday presented a Rs 600.36-crore deficit budget for the 2022-23 financial year and proposed a “green tax” on all old vehicles to discourage people from using them as these are “detrimental” to environment.
Presenting the annual financial statement for the next fiscal, Assam Finance Minister Ajanta Neog also said the government will hike rates of various services such as licence fees of liquor shops in urban areas, royalty of forest produce and entry tickets in all forests across the state.
She, however, did not mention the quantum of hikes that were proposed for the 2022-23 fiscal (FY’23) in her budget speech.
“The budget estimates of 2022-23 show a receipt of Rs 1,19,027.95 crore under the consolidated fund of the state. After adding the receipt of Rs 1,62,886.83 crore under public account and Rs 2,000 crore under contingency fund, the aggregate receipts amount to Rs 2,83,914.78 crore,” she said.
The total expenditure from the consolidated fund of the state in 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 1,19,551.06 crore, the FM said, adding that taking into account the outlay of Rs 1,63,743.58 crore under the public account and Rs 200 crore under the contingency fund, the aggregate expenditure for the year is pegged at Rs 2,83,494.64 crore.
Thus, the projected transactions during the year will result in an estimated surplus of Rs 420.14 crore, Neog said.
“This together with the opening deficit of Rs 1,020.50 crore will lead to a budget deficit of Rs 600.36 crore at the end of the year 2022-23,” Neog said.
The state finance minister proposed to levy a green cess to generate “environmental compensation charges” on users of old vehicles.
“…we would be levying a green tax on the use of old vehicles to discourage people from continuing use of such vehicles as these are detrimental to the environment. Green tax increases the overall well-being of society, by reducing pollution and ensuring that the cost of pollution is borne by the polluter,” she added.
The government proposed to use the revenue from such a tax for implementing measures to tackle air pollution.
She announced the rolling out of a programme to improve the green cover of the state from 36 per cent to 38 per cent over a span of five years by adopting the ‘Miyawaki model’.
The initiative has been named as ‘Assam Green Mission’.
To ensure safe passage to wild animals crossing from Kaziranga National Park to Karbi Anglong district along the NH-715, a 35-km long elevated corridor with tunnels has been proposed. The cost of the project is pegged at Rs 4,865 crore.
Speaking on the excise mop-up, Neog said, “We propose to optimise excise revenue collection with an additional target of Rs 500 crore, totalling Rs 2,500 crore in the financial year 2022-23 through a slew of measures.” The budget for FY’23 proposed restructuring of the excise duties for all categories of liquor, upward revision of the licence fees in urban areas and adoption of technology-driven ‘track and trace initiative’ with strict enforcement to prevent cross border smuggling.
“Our government proposes to allow the option of conversion of the existing IMFL ‘ON’ licences to IMFL ‘OFF’ licences in the rural areas in a limited manner with a conversion fee. Further, we propose to develop different fee slabs for shops situated in municipal corporation/municipal board/ town committee areas,” she said.
In the forest segment, Neog said the government os working on bringing another 100 stone and sand ‘mahals’ into operation, upward revision and rationalisation of royalty rates of forest produce.
She also said the “upward revision and rationalisation” will take place for various entry fees collected by the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and social forestry parks.
Noting that the society is passing through one of the most challenging periods of human history, Neog said that Assam’s economy is recovering well from the pandemic and is in a much better position to tackle any other COVID-related contingencies in future with improved health infrastructure.
“The gross state domestic product (GSDP) of Assam at variable prices is expected to be Rs 4,33,925 crore in 2021-22. This is 13.89 per cent higher than the GSDP in 2020-21,” she said.
Talking about the BJP’s poll promise of giving one lakh government jobs, the finance minister said the government has already hired 1,157 aspirants, while the recruitment for 84,244 posts is in process and the balance 14,599 posts will be filled up soon.
She also said that the Assam government is notifying for an ‘Agriculture Commission’, headed by a scientist of international repute, to identify bottlenecks and prepare a road map to resolve all issues constraining productivity in the sector in the next five years.
The budget also proposed to create three municipal cadres under the Assam Municipalities (Amendment) Act, 2017, for administrative, engineering and financial services.
On the inter-state boundary issue, Neog said that construction of border outposts (BOP) is going on along the state’s border with Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
Steps have also been taken to constitute the BOP management committees for proper management and infrastructure development, she said.
“It is worth apprising the august House that border festivals at Kaziranga, Tezpur and Hailakandi, involving the seven sisters of Northeast and West Bengal, are proposed to be organised in this financial year to exude bonhomie,” she said.
Highlighting the issues of the tea sector, Neog mentioned that the government had earlier kept in abeyance the levy and payment of tax on green tea leaves for a period of three years with effect from January 1, 2019, till December 31, 2021.
“Now, I propose to extend this exemption for a further period of three years from 1st January, 2022,” she added.
Neog also proposed to continue the ‘Assam Tea Industries Special Incentives Scheme’ (ATSIS) for the next financial year.
The ATSIS, under which Rs 45 crore has been sanctioned till now as interest subvention, production and capital subsidy, was introduced in 2021 to ensure long term financial sustainability of the tea industry and to increase the output of the orthodox variety.
The budget stated that the state government is committed to take all steps to regularise and revive the Agar wood-based industries by creating a “right ecosystem” through declaration of new wood-based industrial estates across the state. PTI TR BDC BDC
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