Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Polit Bureau member Yanamala Ramakrishnudu demanded that the Andhra Pradesh Government should form a State-level ‘Fiscal Council’ to streamline the finances, which were out of control, and also to ensure that the Budget rules were followed scrupulously.
In a statement on Monday, Mr. Ramakrishnudu said there was a gross mismatch between Budgetary allocations and expenditure incurred by the government on various heads. The government was often going for supplementary grants. As a principle, the supplementary grants should not cross 10% of the target. It was, however, crossed umpteen times.
The expenditure was made at the whims and fancies of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, he said, adding, the supplementary grants might exceed the original Budget allocations in future.
During the last 32 months, the Chief Minister committed countless transgressions of Budget rules. The Budget allocations were thrown to the wind and funds were indiscriminately diverted. The Budget manual was totally ignored. The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) guidelines and the basic constitutional norms were buried, he said.
The FRBM Review Committee had asked all the State governments to form Fiscal Councils but A.P. had not complied with it so far. This council would ensure the expenditure of public funds in accordance with the Budgetary allocations approved in the State Assembly, he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnudu said if immediate steps were not taken to check the fiscal indiscipline, the State would slip into an irretrievable financial crisis. A high-level review should be held on the government’s failures and violations. The Budget rules should be implemented properly, he added.
