The Goa government is keeping its budgetary allocations at lower levels to increase the same at the "revised estimate stage", and this could give a misleading picture of the state economy, a legislature committee on finance has warned here.
"Such tendencies on the part of the government is a clear case of lack of financial planning," the first report of the demands related ad-hoc committee on finance said.
On the other hand, the panel warned, much of the state funds are "utilised for other purposes other than those for which they were originally budgeted". In addition, they said, funds are being used "at the fag-end of the financial year, in a mad rush".
This committee was constituted by the Goa Assembly in March 2001. The state achieved statehood in 1987, but the setting up of such watchdog committees have been undertaken only this year, leading to a critical scrutiny of the financial functioning of the state government.
The committee on finance has been authorised to examine grants related to Goa's debt services, excise, sales, luxury and entertainment taxes; lotteries, finance, revenue and related fields.
Looking at another aspect, the panel expressed its "displeasure" over the pace of computerisation of sections of the Goa government. It said the government should "push forward its computerisation activities with added momentum so that downsizing of the government structure is quickly given effect".
Looking at Goa's serious problem of debt repayment, the committee noted that each resident of the state has a per capita burden of Rs 11,200 in loans. Goa has an estimated population of 1.4 million, and since achieving statehood, the loan and debt burden of this state has been mounting.
Politicians, when in power, have sought to argue that Goa does not face a debt-trap situation.
Burden of debt is being passed on the next generation, the panel noted, since some loans from the Centre are repayable within 25 years.
Incidentally, as its study showed, the government of India's matching contribution to Goa's own non-debt resources has been declining over the years.
The state government was also asked to issue a detailed note on "the serious consequences of being in the debt trap for long". The legislators' panel suggested a legally-enforced moratorium on all populist schemes which eat up the government's resources.
