Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami himself took the lead on Wednesday to increase the resources of the state’s income. Giving the basic mantra of strong financial management to the departments related to tax revenue, he said that efforts and innovation should be accelerated to increase revenue resources. Special attention should be given to new sources to increase revenue. Chief Minister Dhami held a meeting regarding financial frugality and revenue growth in the Secretariat. He directed the officials to adopt new strategies and methods to increase revenue collection. The tax collection process should be further improved. Along with this, strict steps should be taken regularly to prevent tax evasion. The general public should get full benefit of various works related to development and public interest. Along with frugality in the works, special attention should also be paid to quality.
52 percent revenue received from mining in the first half
The Chief Minister praised the efforts to increase revenue in the mining sector. In the first half of the current financial year, there has been an increase of 70 percent as compared to last year. This is 52 percent of the total annual target. He emphasized on making more efforts for revenue growth in areas like SGST, transport, excise, forestry, energy. He also said that austerity has many dimensions. On one hand, strong law and order increases investment, economic activities increase. The state’s tax and non-tax income increases. Similarly, policy initiatives can also increase the state’s income. Austerity can be ensured.
Austerity is not a compromise with the welfare state
The Chief Minister directed the officials that the impact of the new policies of the government and the policies which have been amended should be clearly visible on the state’s economy. Work should be done with a holistic approach for the successful implementation of policies. He clarified that austerity does not mean compromising with the concept of a welfare state. Our strategy should be to work in a better way. It is necessary to increase resources in the state for ambitious projects and public welfare works. Analyze the correct cost and benefit of big projects. Improving productivity, cutting unnecessary expenditure and proper use of resources are essential for frugality.
Target of 16.96 percent increase in tax revenue
It was told in the meeting that a target of 16.96 percent increase in tax revenue has been set in this financial year. In the year 2023-24, the state’s tax revenue had increased by 12.52 percent. Also, the state spent more than 10 thousand crores for the first time in capital works. The state’s GSDP has increased 1.3 times in 20 months. Per capita income increased by 26 percent in two years. In the meeting, topics like efforts to increase state revenue resources, trend of committed and non-committed expenditure, availability of adequate resources for important schemes, better use of fiscal resources were discussed.
Emphasis on e-monitoring
On this occasion, emphasis was laid on e-monitoring of the work of capital projects from preparing DPR to completion of the project, use of e-governance and digital monitoring of revenue sources. There was also discussion on the use of paperless method for providing records, documents and services, promotion of e-vehicles. The Chief Minister directed that schemes in which the central share and state share are in the ratio of 90 and 10 respectively, should be given more priority. Instructions were given to expedite public works funded by NABARD. Finance Minister Premchand Agarwal, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Additional Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Principal Secretary Justice Pradeep Pant, Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, L Fanai, Special Principal Secretary Amit Sinha along with government officials and heads of various departments were present in the meeting.
