Contingency corpus fund hiked to Rs 500 crore

Contingency corpus fund hiked to Rs 500 crore
PRAFULLA MARPAKWAR

Mumbai, Feb 21: The cash-strapped Congress-led Democratic Front has increased the present corpus of the Contingency Fund from Rs 150 crore to Rs 500 crore to tackle unprecedented financial crisis.

``Since the present corpus of the contingency fund of Rs 150 crore has touched the lowest level of Rs 20.09 crore, it was essential to enhance it to Rs 500 crore to meet additional expenditure on unforseen and immediate items. We have promulgated an ordinance to amend the Maharashtra Contingency Fund Act for the purpose,'' a senior official said.

In view of the drought situation in more than 20,000 villages, the government had to provide Rs 100 crore for the Employment Guarantee Scheme, Rs 100 crore for providing drinking water in the affected villages and another Rs 115 crore for providing financial assistance to labours under the Indira Gandhi landless old labourers scheme.

Under such circumstances, the government will require atleast Rs 350 crore will be required against the available Rs 20.09 crore from the Contingency Fund. ``We felt that since these were urgent items, it will be better if we enhance the corpus under the Contingency Fund from Rs 150 crore to Rs 500 crore so as to meet the additional expenditure,'' the official said.

After the Congress-led Democratic Front government assumed power in October 1999, it was for the second time that an ordinance was promulgated to increase the present corpus of the Contingency Fund. On the earlier occasion, the government had enhanced the corpus to facilitate purchase of a state-of-the-art helicopter and for payment of dues to the onion and cotton growers in North Maharashtra, Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

A senior NCP Minister has strongly criticised the decision, saying, it reflects on the poor financial administration. ``I think it was for the first time that the contingency fund has touched an all time low at Rs 20.09 crore. Under such circumstances, we will have to gear up of revenue collection machinery,'' the NCP Minister said.

Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane said ever since the Vilasrao Deshmukh government took over the reigns, no conerete steps were taken to improve the financial situation, as a result, it had to resort to steps like increasing the corpus of the contingency fund. ``All along, they were criticising us for the financial mess. However, except presenting a white paper on economy, no steps were taken by the government to mobilise resources,'' Rane added.

Rane said instead of launching a massive drive to recover dues, Vilasrao Deshmukh chose to curb the facilities and allowances of the government employees. ``This is not the way of mobilise resources. If we cut the statutory allowances paid to the government, it will have an adverse impact on the administration,'' he remarked.