Coming down with a heavy hand, the Government has decided to slash down the budgetary allocations to four Government departments namely Power, R&B, Urban Development and Irrigation & Flood Control. The reason for doing so is that these departments have not been able to utilize 70 per cent of their allocations during first three quarters of the financial year 2016-17. It is for the first time that the Government has taken stringent measure otherwise usually such lapses were not given much importance. Actually, dragging the works to the fag end of the financial year was a means of corruption in which entire administrative machinery was involved in one or the other way.
Slashing of allocations to the four departments is both appreciative and painful. It is appreciative because without taking stringent decisions fiscal discipline cannot be inducted into the administrative system. But it is also painful that ultimately it is the general public that has something to lose. If the funds were properly utilized works of public utility would have been completed and people would have been the gainers. Therefore, we hope that the punishment given to the four departments will be an eye opener for other departments also and at the end of the day it will contribute to the welfare of the State.
This is not the only reform that has been suggested by the Finance Minister. While presenting the budget he suggested a slew of financial reforms which have been overdue for a long time. It makes little sense that he proposes reforms and the departments are reluctant to implement these. Hence there has come the strong decision that has now come in the shape of slashing the budgetary allocations of the four departments.
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