Governor tells House state fiscal health has improved

IMPHAL, Mar 18 : The Governor Gurbachan Jagat addressed the state Assembly today in relation to the entire plans for the upcoming year and also the past happenings in the state on the first day of the 5th session of the 9th Manipur legislative Assembly.

He noted that the fiscal health of the state has shown considerable improvement in the recent past and further strengthening of the ongoing process of fiscal correction while striving to channelize resources for productive purposes are priorities for his government. The state government’s continued emphasis on reduction of non plan expenditure and providing resources for capital investment has resulted in significant improvement in its expenditure profile unlike in the past where in substantial amount of the state’s resources were utilized in meeting committed financial liabilities like salaries, pensions and interest payments, he stated.

To strengthen debt management and aid fiscal consolidation the consolidated sinking fund and Guarantee Redemption Fund have been set up. The yearly accretions to this corpus fund will enable the government to fulfill its obligations in future on account of guarantees and debt liabilities, he said.

He said the government had an Annual Plan 2008-09 amounting to Rs. 1660 crores. This was enhanced to Rs. 1713.95 crores, including Rs. 550 crores under Special Plan Assistance (SPA) and the government had also drafted the Annual Plan 2009-10 amounting to Rs. 2425.92 crores with highest priority to social service sector with an allocation of Rs. 548.93 crores. The government has made efforts to maximize assistance received under the Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) and so far Ministry of DONER has sanctioned 92 projects amounting to Rs 891.14 crores for projects in the power, water supply, Roads and Bridges, Health, Sports, Education and Minor irrigation sector. Under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP) an amount of Rs. 1244. 63 lakhs was provided during 2007-08.

He also mentioned that it was a matter of concern that the state continues to face the challenge of insurgency and law and order problems and the government was fully committed to improving the law and order situation and through the efforts of the Manipur Police Commendable results have been achieved in the counter insurgency efforts. For effective patrolling of the Loktak lake area the government had set up a dedicated Loktak protection force as well as ministry of home affairs had been requested to provide hovercrafts for the Loktak protection force. During the period from 1st January 2008 to 31st December 2008, a total of 1703 extremists belonging to various underground outfits were arrested and 297 extremists killed.

The government could also save properties worth Rs. 5.66 crores due to timely attention by the fire service personnel and steps have been taken for development of infrastructure of fire services Headquarters, Imphal and Churachandpur fire sub-division.

Concerning power supply in the state, he maintained that power supply in Manipur was dependant on the Central generating stations situated in the North Eastern Region. As a steps towards improving power supply, the government had decided to take part in the North East Transmission Company for construction of 400 KV D/C Pallatana-Silchar-Bogaigaon trunk transmission system for evacuation of power from the Pallatana Gas Power Project (740 MW, targeted for commission during 2010-11) and Bogaigaon Thermal Power Project (750MW, targeted for commission during 2011-12) from which 43 MW and 56MW of power had been allocated to Manipur respectively. And in order to meet the growing demand of water and power and also for the control of floods, a number of irrigation and Multipurpose Projects like Khuga Project, Thoubal Project and Dolaithabi Project were under implementation, he said.

He also said that the government was trying its best to construct and make proper road construction in the entire state for the convenience of those who are travelling. The state government has continued efforts to improve the quality health service delivery in Manipur. And as per the latest NFHS-3 findings, IMR (Infants Mortality Rate) for Manipur has declined to 30 deaths per 1000 live births.

Given the perennial shortage of doctors in the state, preparations for the setting up of a government Medical College under the title Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences is in full swing. An amount of Rs. 35 crores was allocated for infrastructure developed under SPA 2008-09. And through the Family Welfare Department, the intensive Pulse Polio Immunization was successfully conducted in Dec 2008 and Feb 2009, he said.

Manipur was the first state in India to formulate a state AIDS policy in 1996 but HIV/AIDS continues to plague the state. A grand function was organised at Imphal to observe the World AIDS Day where in 2nd line ART was also launched.

In the field of education the government had a target of improving every aspect of activities related to providing access quality and inclusive Education. Some of the initiatives the government took were setting up of the special category English Medium Government Schools or Model Schools in short.

Incentives to schools producing first Divisioners in the High School Leaving Certificate Examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education Manipur, and Higher Secondary Examination conducted by the council of Higher Secondary Education Manipur along with merit scholarships scheme for the first 300 students of Class X Examination conducted by BSEM and Class XII Examination conducted by CHSEM.

The government has been trying to promote and preserve the rich cultural heritage of the state by developing infrastructure and organizing various programmes inside and outside the state.

He further maintained that sports persons of Manipur had brought laurels to the state on many occasions and his government was committed to promoting sports, including indigenous games of the state. And agriculture continues to be the backbone of the state economy and during the year 2008-09, 518250 metric tons of rice, 26150 metric tons of oil seeds, 29800 metric tons of sugarcane and 108000 metric tons of potato were produced.

Recognizing that tourism had become a major industry in the globalized world the government intended to promote sustainable tourism while protecting the fragile ecology of the state, he said.