Bhubaneswar: Following the passage of Appropriation Bill 2023 allowing the State Government to use Rs 2.30 lakh crore from consolidated fund, Principal Secretary Finance, Vishal Dev has instructed all the departments to expedite the pace of expenditure during the first quarter of the financial year before the onset of the monsoon.
In a recent letter to all department, Principal Secretary Shri Dev said, “The departments should carefully chalkout their work programme from the beginning of the financial year and make available the provision made in the annual budget to the spending units in the month of April 2023 itself.”
The departments were asked to give priority to capital assets creation and completion of ongoing projects. Funds should be released according to a definite action plan for achieving the quantifiable physical targets fixed for the year. The secretaries of administrative departments were advised to review physical achievement against expenditure by 15th of every month against monthly/quarterly targets.
The Principal Secretary has further advised the departments to incure expenditure upto 50 percent of the provision made under Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the Budget, in case of urgent necessity.
Shri Dev also asked the departments to furnish utilisation certificates and statements of expenditure in time to the respective ministries of Government of India.
If any department will delay in paying taxes, electricity dues, water charges and rents, the head of the office or DDO will be personally responsible for that, he said.
In any circumstances, the budgetary funds will be transferred to civil deposits, warned the Principal Secretary Finance.
For the 20 departments coming under Cash Management System, Principal Secretary Shri Dev said the minimum level of expenditure upto the third quarter must be 60 per cent including Programme Expenditure and Transfer from State. The Programme Expenditure must be 60 per cent. Less than of the target os non-negotiable, he added.