Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 31 Mar: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Thursday claimed that the state’s financial condition is stable and robust and there is no financial crisis as such.
He said this while briefing media persons regarding the state’s financial position here on Thursday evening.
The state government drew flak from all quarters after the finance department issued an order on 29 March, restricting all government cheques. Many organisations have criticised the state government for being unable to make payments.
“Our financial condition of state exchequer is remaining robust. Some misinformation is being spread by some vested interest to misinterpret the present financial management, which is unsubstantiated and untrue,” Mein stated.
He also denied the All Nyishi Youth Association’s allegation of “disparity and partiality in releasing payments.”
“I strongly refute the allegation against me and the chief minister. There is no such works in our names. The allegation is unsubstantiated and baseless,” the DCM said.
Terming the restriction of payment against government cheques a “temporary halt,” the DCM clarified that “the restriction of government cheques is not because of bad financial position, rather due to financial reconciliation exercise which is a regular exercise of every financial year end.”
“Last year, we had reconciliation on 23 March. This year we did on 29 March. We do reconciliation to review the department accounts and treasury bank accounts. One should not confuse that with the financial management of the treasury and financial position of the state exchequer,” he said.
“The restriction was a temporary halt. Based on reconciliation on 29 March, we subsequently issued reviewed order on 30 March, allowing up to Rs 25 lakhs can be debited and make payment. After assessing the financial reconciliation, I hope we would be able to issue fresh order soon, allowing all government cheques for payment.” he added.
“It is worthwhile to recall here the prudent management of finances which has remained the hallmark of our government. In spite of major economic impact due to the pandemic in the years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, we neither compromised on our important development projects nor defaulted in any of our committed liabilities such as salaries, pensions, wages and loan repayments,” the DCM said.
He further claimed: “In spite of financial stress due to Covid, government released Rs 894 crores on 29 August, 2020 for pending liabilities under SIDF and additional revised estimate. Since some departments could not use the full amount, we again released Rs 74.93 crores on 12 February, 2022 for those schemes whose funds got lapsed in ’20-21. We also provided sufficient funds for all ongoing SPA/CCI and such other projects,” he added.
“In the year ’20-21, we released Rs 5,958 crores under CSS, and in ’21-22 we released Rs 5,273 crores. In the process, we cleared pending liability of Rs 3,200 crores under CSS in last two years. It is worth mentioning that we have released full allocation of state share also,” the DCM claimed.
Principal Finance Secretary Sharat Chauhan clarified that the restriction “was due to account reconciliation of the government’s accounts in financial year-end.”
“During the reconciliation process, if the information is delayed, we do not have clarity that how many cheques have been issued and how many are cleared. In that situation, we temporary halt,” he said, and denied that “partial lifting of payment restriction order was issued under pressure from the organisations.”
Planning Commissioner Prasant Lohkande stated that the planning exercise in the state is carried out “in need-base planning on areas which has developmental gaps. There is no disparity in fund allocations.”
The government stated that, despite the Covid-19 situation, the government has managed to clear pending liability of around Rs 5,000 crores in 2021-22.
Later, Chauhan informed that the government has lifted restriction on government cheques from debiting. He informed that the government has decided to allow payment and debiting all government cheques issued by the works and the environment & forest division on or before 26 March, 2022, with validity till 31 May, 2022, from the agency bank account, strictly as per the prescribed financial rules.
