Bhubaneswar: September 17: The First All Secretaries meeting was held today in the new extension building of Lokseva Bhawan called Kharavela Bhwan inaugurated by Chief Minister recently. Reviewing the basic facilities and connectivity available in the building, Chief Secretary Sri Tripathy directed the identified ten departments to start operating from the new building soon. It was known from the meeting that the departments like Labour & ESI, Industry, Micro Small & Medium Enterprise, Housing and Urban Development, Forest & Environment, Energy, Science & Technology, Skill Development & Technical Education, Commerce & Transport, Electronic & Information Technology would function from this new building. Chief Secretary also directed to maintain uniformity in the look and getup of the departments. BSNL was requested to complete the LAN connectivity for integration of the directorates with respective departments.
Principal Secretary Finance Ashok Meena appraised that the total revenue collection up to August, 2019 grew around 7% over the same period of last fiscal year. The non-tax revenue increased by 12% over previous year and the augmentation of revenue from own tax sources increased by 5%. The total revenue collection increased to around Rs.12,315 cr against the last year collection of Rs.11, 758 cr. Review of the programme expenditure showed that because of the model code of conduct for general elections during initial 2-3 months of the current financial year, the total programme expenditure up to August, 2019 declined by 4% in comparison to the same period of last fiscal year. The programme expenditure till August 2018 was around 32% of the budget provision against which the expenditure till August 2019 was 28% of the budgeted allocation. Reviewing the fiscal performances of the departments up to August, 2019 Chief Secretary Sri Tripathy directed to expedite implementation of the projects and utilization of the budgeted amount in coming months.
The departments were asked to implement the reforms in the field of budget preparation, strengthening macro-fiscal forecasting, annual and medium term budgeting and introducing commitment control system for uninterrupted financing to various projects and programmes.
The progress of the projects under District Mineral Fund ( DMF) was reviewed in the meeting Development Commissioner Suresh Chandra Mohapatra appraised that total collection under DMF up to August,2019 was Rs.8252 cr against which the Rs,8,067 cr was allocated for 12,664 projects. Around 71% of the funds ( viz. Rs. 5,722 cr) was allocated to 9,241 projects under priority activities of DMF like drinking water, education, environmental preservation, pollution control, health care, sanitation, skill development, welfare of women and Children, housing, livelihood creation programmes, and connectivity. Out of this 73.50% was utilized till August, 2019. Development Commissioner Sri Mohapatra directed the departments to keep ready the shelf of projects of worth one and half time more than the current collection as DMF is a recurring fund.
Emphasizing on implementation of 5T action agenda of the departments Chief Secretary Sri Tripahy directed to fix quantitative targets with milestones and time lines. The 5T action agenda of the departments of MS&ME, General Administration, Health & Family Welfare, Industry, Women & Child Welfare and Law were discussed in the meeting.
Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner SC Mohapatra, Additional Chief Secretary Steel & Mines Raj Kumar Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary Pradeepta Kumar Mohapatra along with Principal Secretaries, Secretaries of various departments participated in the deliberations.
