By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 29, 2019: Odisha government seems to be walking a tightrope ahead of the supplementary budget 2019-20.

Amidst economic slowdown in the country, the current debt burden of the State has crossed Rs 87,000 crore and by 2020 March, it is expected to cross Rs 1,06,000 crore and the fiscal deficit has already touched 3.5 per cent.

As a precautionary measure, the Finance Department has directed all the administrative departments to refrain from seeking huge funds under one unit and instead make adjustment with the unused funds.

The Principal Secretary, finance, K K Meena has directed all the departments to keep adequate resource back-up and submit their proposals by October 22.

“Hence, supplementary statement of expenditure, 2019-20 is proposed to be purely an adjustment budget in which the administrative departments would be allowed to augment the provision in one unit only by locating equivalent savings in some other unit of expenditure,” Meena said in a letter to the administrative departments.

“In respect of the new works, token provision is to be made in the supplementary statement of expenditure along with the list of new work for legislative approval,” the letter says.

The departments have been directed not to prepare supplementary proposal in a routine manner. Also, proposal for substantive supplementary provision shall not be considered for any department if actual expenditure by the end of September 2019 is less than 40% of the Budget provision.