Jai Ram Govt spent Rs 623 Cr without provision: CAG

The Himachal government has spent Rs 623.40 crore (6,23,39,68,317) during the financial year 2021-22 without budget provision. This has been revealed in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) placed in the House by Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri on Friday. The CAG has raised many serious questions on the financial management of the Himachal government. The report described the amount spent without budget as a financial irregularity and advised the government to follow the provisions of the Government Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act in future. Failure to do so, the state’s fiscal deficit is estimated to increase from 4.98 percent to 5.84 percent in the current financial year. In the financial year 2021-22, the government did not present the proof of expenditure of Rs 7.87. That’s why CAG has kept it in suspense account.According to the CAG, most of the departments did not submit their utilization certificates after spending the budget of various schemes. On non-receipt of certificates for works worth more than Rs 4752 crore, the central government has repeatedly written to the concerned departments to give certificates. Still, the departments did not submit the certificates for 1796 works worth Rs 2359.15 crore. Revenue Receipts 37110 Crore, Revenue Expenditure 42470 Crore According to CAG, by the end of the financial year 2022-23, the state’s revenue receipts are estimated to be Rs 37,110 crore. There will be an increase of Rs 735.36 crore in revenue receipts. The concern is that the income is less and the revenue expenditure is estimated at 42,470 crores. The revenue expenditure is Rs 2191 crore more than estimated.In Himachal, the government owes about 10 thousand crore rupees to the employees. The CAG report said that the revenue deficit of the state would increase to Rs 1456.32 crore and the fiscal deficit would reach Rs 1642.49 crore. Fiscal deficit should be 3.5%, estimated to reach 5.84% According to the FRBM law, the fiscal deficit should not exceed 3.5%. However, it is estimated to reach 5.84 percent in the current financial year. The financial condition of the state is deteriorating rapidly due to the closure of the GST reimbursement amount of more than Rs 3500 crore received from the economic center. GST reimbursement amount has stopped from June 2022.

It is worthwile to mention that the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government is making its debut till now CAG is doing audit of state funds of BJP rule at list one more year.