Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has already started preparing for the annual budget for 2023-2024.
Scheduled to be presented before 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the budget will be significant in political terms.
According to sources, the state government has asked its departments to submit their proposals to the state finance department by November 30, which would be incorporated in the next budget.
Additional chief secretary, finance, Prashant Trivedi, in a circular sent to all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and secretaries, said, “Wasteful expenditure should be checked and unproductive expenditure should be minimised. The state government’s orders for thrift measures should be specially taken care of.”
“The state government’s budget is a policy document giving shape to the state. Finalising budgetary proposals is a top management function and additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and secretaries should examine the budgetary proposals by holding meetings at their levels before sending them to the state finance department,” he said.
“As all eyes will be set on the annual budget for 2023-2024, keeping in view 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the state government will have to strike a balance between curtailing expenditure and incorporating populist schemes ahead of the polls. The annual budget is likely to incorporate measures to help the state become a trillion-dollar economy,” said a senior official in the finance department.
“By the time of the budget, hopefully, the state government will also have the benefit of having the road map ready for a trillion-dollar economy by the year 2027. The budget is likely to give a prominent place to this objective. It will further emphasise development with welfare,” he said.
Trivedi’s circular also incorporates instructions that include directives about making no token provisions. For new items to be incorporated in the state budget, it has asked departments to include externally aided projects, centrally sponsored schemes and resource-linked projects.
Instead of creating new posts for new schemes, the departments should suggest alternative proposals, the circular added.
Barring special circumstances, no proposals for construction of new residential and non-residential buildings will be considered, it said.
Departments have been asked that under the model budget revenue, expenditure should be met by revenue receipts. It asks them to scrap schemes that may not be useful and review administrative structure in view of increasing expenditure on staff. It has also asked departments to review the cost of collection of revenue and take appropriate action if the cost of collection was less in comparison to the expenditure on staff deployed.
The departments have been asked to get work done on contractual basis instead of doing so by appointment of contractual staff.
About buying new vehicles, it tells departments not to directly include any such proposals, and wherever necessary, the vehicles should be arranged on a contract basis with prior permission of the state government.
–IANS