NEW DELHI, 25 Nov: Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein said that Arunachal’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has almost doubled from Rs 20,000 crore in 2015-’16 to Rs 38,000 crore in the current year.
He said this while attending the pre-budget meeting with regard to the 2023-24 union budget, chaired by union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Friday.
Expressing gratitude to the union finance ministry for prioritising development initiatives in the frontier state, Mein said, “The state has undergone a transformation not witnessed for decades, which has been possible due to the commitment of the
double-engine government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Pema Khandu.”
He informed that “the Arunachal government has adopted a ‘Vision 2047’ of ‘higher happiness’ for the state, aligned to the National Vision, 2047.”
He also informed that “the share of capital expenditure to the total expenditure has averaged over 30 percent in the last three years, which is the highest in the country.”
Mein thanked the union finance minister for launching the ‘Vibrant Villages’ programme and the PM-DevINE (PM’s Development Initiate for NE) in the union budget this year.
He also thanked the union minister “for enhancing the borrowing limit for obtaining negotiated loan up to Rs 657 crore,” which, he said, would “greatly help the state government in providing funds on time for important ongoing and new projects.”
Thanking the central government “for making provisions for mandatory expenditure of 10 percent gross budgetary support by non-exempted ministries in the Northeastern states,” Mein suggested “giving flexibility to the states to design customised projects in that particular sector and seek funding from the balance of 10 percent GBS.”
The DCM also requested “enhancing allocations under the schemes of the North Eastern Council, the Department of Northeast Region (DoNER) and the Border Area Development Programme to at least double from the current levels.”
He thanked the union finance minister for approving a special grant to the state to upgrade infrastructure in 50 identified government schools under the ‘golden jubilee model school’ programme, and further requested that such special grants be provided “on an annual basis to compensate for not having multilateral loans, in particular to upgrade and strengthen the state’s health and education infrastructure.”
The pre-budget meeting was attended also by, among others, union MoS for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, finance ministers of the states and UTs, and DEA Secretary Ajay Seth. (DCM’s PR Cell)
