GUWAHATI, March 31 ? The State Government has taken a policy decision to introduce voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) and a preliminary report in this regard has already been sent to the Planning Commission. This was disclosed by the Minister for Finance and Power Sri Devanand Konwar. Participating in a meet-the-press programme in the Guwahati Press Club today, Sri Konwar said that in the first phase, the government has submitted a proposal for introducing VRS in the ASEB for 200 persons and a detailed scheme in this regard would be forwarded to the Planning Commission shortly.
The Minister said that of the 49 State public sector units, only six are making profits and the others are totally in the red. He said that under the present circumstances, it is not possible for the government to give budgetary support to the PSUs and the Government would have to either privatise or disband the loss-making PSUs. For this purpose, the concerned departments have been asked to make an assessment of the assets and liabilities of the PSUs. He also revealed that the Planning Commission has assured to provide financial aid to introduce VRS in the PSUs and the Centre has already released an amount of Rs 25 crore for introduction of VRS in the Assam State Transport Corporation (ASTC).
Commenting on the financial position of the state, Sri Konwar said the failure of the revenue receipts to keep pace with the revenue expenditure is the main reason for the present state of affairs. He expressed the view that the state must improve to its revenue collection to tide over the crisis. ?We have been requesting the Central government to give us moratorium on repayment of the Central loans or to provide a one-time grant of Rs 1,000 crore to tide over the crisis. But so far we have not received any positive response from the Centre and we cannot keep borrowing. Increasing of its own revenue collection is the only way out for the state, he added. The finance minister also expressed the view that the government would have to take strict administrative measures for improving the scenario and ?I am confident that we would be able to tide over the crisis if we take right measures in right time,?
Replying to a question regarding payment of salaries to the employees, Sri Konwar admitted that he was not in a position to give an assurance on payment of salaries on the first day of the month. He said that the government was not happy at the delay in payment of salaries , but at the same time, he asserted that the government was trying its best for regular payment of salaries. The Finance Minister revealed that the state?s debt burdens now stands at Rs 11,350 crore. He said that he was disclosing the figure not to create panic among the people but to let the people know the actual facts. He expressed the view that there was no need to impose financial emergency in the state as demanded by the opposition parties in a memorandum to the Governor recently. He revealed that some other states have much higher debt burden than Assam. For example, Uttar Pradesh has a debt burden of Rs 85,000 crore, Kerala has a burden of Rs 32,000 crore, Andhra Pradesh?s burden is Rs 36,000 crore and Rajasthan?s burden is Rs 35,000 crore.
On the Fiscal Reforms Committee?s recommendation of downsizing the government, Sri Konwar said that reducing the number of employees drastically would not be possible, but the government has stopped filling up of vacancies created by retirement. He disclosed that the government is also trying to fill up vacant posts through redeployment from other departments instead of going for fresh recruitments. Replying to a question on the steps taken to boost sales tax collection, the Finance Minister said that steps have been initiated to plug the loopholes in the process of tax collection. He said that a committee headed by Prof Gautam Baruah of the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, has been formed to study all the aspects of computerisation of the check gates to boost tax collection.
The Finance Minister also said that the government of Assam has been demanding revision of oil royalty. He expressed the view that the Centre should evolve a clear-cut formula for periodical review of oil royalty. Sri Konwar revealed that though the government floated global tender for implementation of the Amguri power project, only one tender was received. He also admitted that there was a question mark on the availability of gas for the project.