Odisha govt to curb capital expenditure in non-priority sector to tackle COVID-19 crisis

The Odisha government has decided to restrict capital expenditure in non-priority sectors from the budget allocation for the fiscal year 2020-21. This is being done to fulfil the financial requirement for tackling Coronavirus pandemic in the state. The decision was taken on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss COVID management and the future course of action.

"In view of the evolving COVID-19 situation and future financial need to tackle public health emergency, there will be rationalisation of expenditure at the government level, because our priorities are to save life and livelihood.

Expenditures relating to health, social security, employment generation, livelihood, agriculture, horticulture, animal resources development sectors will be given priority. Especially, there will be no compromise for required expenditure in the health sector," Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said at the meeting.

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Free treatment, quarantine, meals for patients

The expenditure is being rationalised because the Odisha government has been providing quarantine facility, treatment, food and other essential things to Coronavirus patients free of cost in the state. While the ongoing projects will be halted, there will be restrictions on new investments in non-priority sectors, the Chief Secretary said.

"Odisha government has so far spent around Rs 1912 crores on Coronavirus management. Of the total expenditure, Rs 340 crores were spent from the Chief Ministers Relief Fund, Rs 624 crores from the SDRF, Rs 875 crores by Panchayati Raj Institutions and Rs 73 crores from MLA LAD fund," Tripathy said.

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On the directions of Chief Minister Patnaik, those who have successfully completed institutional quarantine are being given an incentive of Rs 2,000 each. The total amount spent on these incentives is Rs 99,38,99,000. This amount is also released from the CM Relief Fund.

As many as 6,575 COVID Care Homes are operational in 6,798 Gram Panchayats of Odisha. A total number of 65,569 beds have been arranged in these centres for Coronavirus patients. In addition to this, 1,386 cluster-level temporary medical centres (TMCs) have been set up with 65,308 beds in the state.

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(With inputs from agency)

(Image credits: PTI)