By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 24, 2017 : Odisha finance minister Pradip Amat on Tuesday met former state finance ministers, economists, industrialists, officials of the RBI and Nabard and other stakeholders to deliberate on boosting the state’s income ahead of the 2017-18 annual state budget.

This year’s budget could be of about Rs one lakh crore notwithstanding a dip in revenue earnings in the current fiscal, sources said.

Finance Minister Pradip Amat said both plan and non-plan sectors will be combined in line with the Union budget.

“In the current budget both plan and non-plan will be combined and emphasis will be laid on all aspects. This year Union budget is being tabled ahead of schedule; we will place our budget after that. We will take demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST) into account while preparing the state budget,” informed Finance Minister Pradip Amat after the meeting.

Participants at the meeting suggested for imposing professional tax on doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants and other professionals to augment the state’s earnings.

Former Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadai who was a participant at the meeting suggested that the state government should make efforts to earn more revenue in the coming four months.

Vivek Pattnayak, former IAS officer from the state suggested that the government should emphasis on agro-industry and agriculture to prevent migration of people from rural areas to urban areas.

“In my opinion, more stress should be laid on agro-industries and agriculture, the reason being there is the need for creation of employment opportunities in rural areas. With employment opportunities in rural areas, the pressure on urban areas shall decrease. This will stop migration from rural areas to urban areas. If this is not done well in time a situation may so arise when cities won’t be in a position to bear the brunt,” Patnaik said.

The state exchequer will have to bear an additional burden of about Rs 5,000 crore following the decision of the state government to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.

The state government is likely to give priority to the social sector, rural infrastructure, irrigation, agriculture, health and education which would require additional funds mobilization.