Shimla, Mar 2
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur Tuesday stated in the Assembly that the state is coming out of economic recession arisen due COVID pandemic while presenting supplementary demands aggregate to Rs. 9125 crore 12 lakh for grant in the year 2020-21 on the third day of ongoing budget session.
The CM who also hold the portfolio of finance said that revenue receipts were affected in the COVID pandemic and it was necessary to ensure that committed obligations of the government are fully met.
Relief was provided to every section of the society and now the state is coming out of economic recession, he added.
Out of the total supplementary demands, Rs. 8448 crore 17 lakh is under non-plan schemes, Rs. 280 crore 84 lakh under the plan and Rs. 396 crore 11 lakh under the centrally sponsored schemes, he added.
Under the non-plan expenditure, a sum of Rs. 7999 crore 57 lakh has been provided for ways and means advance. Ways and means is a short term facility on which interest rate is much lower than market borrowings.
Thakur said that the ways and means advance gets repaid during the year itself and its net effect on borrowings is zero. The government of India this year has increased the amount of this facility from Rs. 550 crores to Rs. 880 crores for the state due to Covid-19, he added.
Thakur said that the state government took advantage of this facility provided by the central government so that the burden of the debt does not increase on the state.
