Gujarat Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala presented the states modified budget of Rs 57,440 crore for 2009-10 in the Assembly on Tuesday,with a whopping revenue deficit of Rs 3,913.19 crore the highest ever registered in the last five years. In 2005-06,the revenue deficit had been recorded at just Rs 398.62 crore. Barring the new Rs 200 annual entertainment tax proposed per connection on Direct-to-Home (DTH) TV facility,Vala stayed away from imposing any other taxes. He announced in the House that it would be appropriate to maintain status quo with regard to the remaining tax provisions in view of the current economic (meltdown) scenario. He sought to collect Rs 6 crore annually through this proposed new entertainment tax. At the post-Budget press briefing,Vala attributed the increased revenue deficit to the financial burden of over Rs 4,200 crore on the state exchequer in 2009-10 alone due to the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations,among other factors. For the revenue deficit,he also sought to blame the Centre for providing Rs 1,500 crore less to Gujarat towards oil royalty,Rs 1,000 crore not made available last year to the state towards CST (Central Sales Tax) compensation and another Rs 600 crore paid less by the Centre from its devolution funds. The Opposition Congress,however,blasted the Narendra Modi government,alleging that financial indiscipline was the main reason for the revenue deficit this fiscal. The growing non-plan expenditure and market borrowing by the present BJP regime in Gujarat has virtually messed up the states finances,leading to a phenomenal rise in revenue deficit, Leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil told Newsline after the Budget presentation. He said,by the governments own admission,the state public debt has reached a whopping Rs 85,000 crore as on May 1,2009,and the debt will cross the Rs 1 lakh crore mark in the days to come. The government has to pay Rs 14,000 crore (or 25 per cent of the total Budget amount) in instalments and interest on this huge public debt annually, he said. A Budget in Brief document made available to the press states that the government proposes to raise over Rs 14,192 crore in public debt to provide budgetary support to meet the states developmental and non-developmental expenditure. It seems the government has plans to utilise part of this amount to clear the revenue deficit, alleged senior Congress MLA Arjun Modhwadia. The document also suggests how the non-developmental expenditure has been steadily increasing for the past five years. In 2005-06,this expenditure was registered at Rs 12,653.37 crore,which rose to Rs 13,906 crore in 2006-07,Rs 15,533 crore in 2007-08,Rs 16,188 crore in 2008-09,and now stands at Rs 19,671 crore today. Vala,however,seemed to rely heavily on market borrowing,instead of imposing heavy taxes,to lend budgetary aid to the all round development of the state. Earlier,during his budget speech in the House,Vala proposed to increase the states annual plan size from Rs 21,000 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 23,275 crore for the current financial year. In the annual plan this fiscal,the minister said he proposed to allocate Rs 10,150.28 crore for social services,followed by Rs 5,570.20 crore for irrigation and flood control,Rs 2,179.25 crore for transport,Rs 1,745.86 for agriculture and allied services,Rs 935.50 crore for energy and Rs 846.84 crore for rural progress. Vala said that considering Gujarats past remarkable achievements,the 11th Five-Year Plan target has been set at Rs 1,11,111 crore,which is more than the total amount of all the Five-Year Plans (put together) after the formation of Gujarat state.
