Revenue surplus budget for Goa

PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday presented the budget for 2020-21 with a revenue surplus of Rs 353.61 crore and outlay of Rs 21,056.35 crore in the Goa legislative assembly.

Presenting his maiden budget, Sawant, who also holds the finance portfolio, prioritised resumption of mining, development of hinterland tourism, medical tourism, adventure tourism and eco-tourism and an improvement in the ease of doing business in the state.

“I am happy to present a revenue surplus budget of Rs 353.61 crore. The total gross budgetary expenditure works out to Rs 21,056.35 crore as against the budgetary estimate of Rs 19,548.69 crore for the year 2019-20. Out of the total estimated expenditure, Rs 14,906.34 crore is towards revenue account and Rs 5,069.32 crore is towards capital account,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that the revenue receipts for the current fiscal year are estimated at Rs 15,081.03 crore and for every rupee that comes in, 50.2 per cent comes from the state’s own tax and non-tax revenue, 15 per cent through grants-in-aid from the Centre, 19.2 per cent through share in central taxes and 15.6 per cent through borrowings and other liabilities.

“The estimates state that out of every rupee earned, approximately 36.9 per cent goes towards salaries, wages, pension, gratuity and grant-in-aid, 2 per cent towards subsidies whereas 12.7 per cent goes towards debt servicing. After considering other such committed expenditure, only 28.5 per cent remainder amount is to be utilised towards developmental works and maintenance of existing infrastructure,” he said in his budget speech.

He stressed on developing Goa as a convention centre and education hub. Among other things, he  announced an apprentice scheme, to be implemented by the Goa Human Resource Development Corporation, for college students and graduates.

Goa Institute of Future Transformation (GIFT), a state-body, would be set up on the lines of NITI Aayog, he said.

“The GSDP (gross state domestic product) estimate for 2019-20 is Rs 84,888.89 crore and Goa’s per capita income at current prices is Rs 5.02 lakh, which is the highest in the country,” he said. Sawant said that the growth rate is approximately 10 per cent and added that revenue mobilisation remains key to attaining budgeted targets.

He said that as GST (Goods and Services Tax) stabilises and mining resumes, it should boost the state’s revenue capacity and support resumption of fiscal consolidation.

Sawant further said that nearly 3,000 litigations are pending at appellate and various courts under the earlier laws of VAT, CST, luxury tax, entry tax and entertainment tax and the limitation to finish assessment under these Acts is up to June 2020.

In order to expedite the legacy assessments and recovery of arrears in litigated cases, the Chief Minister proposed to introduce Settlement Scheme as declared by many other states and Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) by the government of India.

With regard to mining, the Chief Minister said that the verdict given by the Supreme Court last week allowing transportation of iron ore extracted before March 15, 2019, would give relief to the people of Goa and help boost the state’s economy.

“The state government has filed a review petition on the apex court order passed on February 7, 2018. In order to move out iron ore dumps, we have filed interlocutory application before the court and also got permission of the Supreme Court for transportation of royalty-paid iron ore. The government is also looking at alternative options for resumption of mining and e-auctioning of iron ore,” Sawant said, adding that he is confident that the efforts of the government will enable it to restart the mining industry and create employment opportunities. The government is making efforts to allow major and minor minerals including sand mining by adhering to the environmental laws, he said.

Sawant reiterated that the state government will not compromise on the Mhadei issue and not fall prey to any pressure whatsoever. “The state government is constantly deliberating with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar on the Mhadei issue to find a solution,” he added.

The Chief Minister also proposed a budgetary allocation of Rs 50 crore to construct small dams, bandharas and check-dams on River Mhadei. He said that the state government will also approach the Union Jal Shakti Ministry for assistance in this regard.