Next government has to find additional resources: Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the Assembly on Tuesday that additional resources for implementation of his Budget for next year would have to be found by the new government.

Replying to the debate on the final supplementary demands for grants for the current year, the Chief Minister said that Budget did not speak of new sources of revenue as the State was going to polls shortly. It was for the new government to decide on resource mobilisation.

Mr. Chandy said that the government had, however, identified three sources of revenue if it is to shoulder the responsibility after the election. The first was increased revenues from implementation of Goods and Services Tax. Even if the tax is introduced in the second half of next year, the State’s revenues would be going up substantially. Secondly, it was expecting higher revenues as a result of increased capital expenditure and resultant economic activities.  The government had not exhausted its limits for public debt and open market lending would be open to the new government.

Refuting reports that the Budget had been leaked, the Chief Minister said that the Opposition was not even prepared to raise the issue seriously in the House. If it believed in the allegation, the House was the right place to raise the issue. However, the government was enquiring who had tried to mislead the public by planting a report that took information from medium term fiscal policy and strategy statement and stated it to be part of budget-in-brief.

He said that the government had taken strong steps to support prices of rubber, paddy and cardamom. The government had come to the aid of Malayalees whenever they faced problems abroad. All its budgets had a touch of care for the poor and the destitutes.

After the Chief Minister’s reply, the House passed the supplementary demands for grants.