Uttarakhand: Finance department’s circular issued, government departments of Uttarakhand lagging behind in spending the budget, read the account of the budget, and know why the finance minister warned

While on one hand the Dhami government of Uttarakhand has started preparing for the general budget for the financial year 2024-25, on the other hand many departments are still lagging far behind in spending the budget in the financial year 2023-24. Even the figures of expenditure of the budget that was made to fulfill the announcements of the Chief Minister, are testifying that the budget is far behind the expenditure of the announcements of the Chief Minister.

Departments proving to be laggards in spending the budget

Preparations have been started by the Dhami government for the financial year 2024-25. Finance Minister Premchand Aggarwal says that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will take opinion from the general public regarding the upcoming budget. Whereas the department-wise budget passed by the departments in the financial year 2023-24, many departments are lagging far behind in the progress till the last month of December 2023. You can also understand through the data that how much budget was spent by which department till the month of December and how much budget was passed by which department.

Budget accounting

A budget of Rs 1965 crore was passed for rural development, out of which Rs 676 crore was spent by the department.
PWD’s budget of Rs 1681 crore was passed, out of which Rs 775 crore was spent.
Energy Department’s budget of Rs 1194 crore was passed, only Rs 262 crore could be spent.
Urban development budget of Rs 1116 crore was passed, only Rs 242 crore was spent.
Disaster Management Department’s budget was passed for Rs 1082 crore, only Rs 70 crore was spent.
Budget of Rs 736 crore passed in Irrigation Department, Rs 116 crore spent
Horticulture Department could spend only Rs 6 crore out of Rs 236 crore
Out of Rs 167 crore, Rs 13 crore has been spent in the Social Welfare Department.
Tourism Department has been able to spend only Rs 72 crore out of Rs 165 crore.
Home Department has been able to spend Rs 67 crore in the budget of Rs 104 crore.
Out of the budget of Rs 95 crore for higher education, only Rs 41 crore was spent.
21 crores were spent in the forest department’s budget of 80 crores.
28 crores were spent on the Chief Minister’s announcements out of the budget of 65 crores.
Out of 63 crores of Agriculture Department, 35 crores were spent
24 crores were spent in the budget of 55 crores of sports department.
20 crores were spent in the health department out of the budget of 44 crores.
8 crores spent in the budget of 23 crores of Youth Welfare Department

Departments that are stingy in spending their budget will get less budget

This is the situation when Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is continuously monitoring since the beginning of the financial year and all departments are being instructed to speed up spending of the budget and not lag behind. In such a situation, Finance Minister Premchand Aggarwal says that in the coming financial year, the departments which have not been able to spend the budget properly in the current financial year, will be given the budget according to the progress seen in their current financial year.

What does CM’s secretary say?

It is indeed a matter of concern for the development of the state that many departments do not show interest in spending the budget which is passed by the Assembly to speed up the development works. Secretary to Chief Minister Meenakshi Sundaram says that generally it is seen that the departments which are not able to spend the budget, are allocated budget accordingly in the upcoming financial year.

Finance Minister warned

Finance Minister Premchand Aggarwal is also giving a warning to such departments in the coming financial year, which are currently not able to spend the budget properly. They will be given budget in the upcoming financial year according to the progress with which they are spending the budget.

Meanwhile, Secretary to Chief Minister Meenakshi Sundaram says that this tradition is already going on. But the question is that if in reality the departments get the budget under this tradition and they are not able to spend the budget, then what kind of Sanjeevani should be given to the departments in Uttarakhand, so that the departments can spend 100 percent of the budget.