NEW DELHI, Jun 22: Deputy Chief Minister, Chowna Mein placed state-specific requirements of Arunachal Pradesh to be incorporated in the Union Budget 2019-20 while attending the Pre-Budget Consultation Meeting for the Union Budget 2019-20 chaired by Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on Friday.  
He said that the people of Arunachal Pradesh have great expectations and hope of achieving their dreams in financial inclusion and in development of infrastructure in various sectors, strengthening of security forces, awarding suitably for being a carbon sink State, providing alternative funding in lieu of externally aided funds and many more.
He stated that the State does not receive the share of central taxes as per the amount earmarked in the Union Budget by the Government of India which is also not as per the recommendation of Fourteen Finance Commission. He  requested the Union Finance Minister to allocate the share of central taxes as per the earmarked in Union budget.
While informing that there are still 805 unbanked villages and 35 unbanked blocks out of 114 blocks which need to be brought under the banking services, “target oriented directions have to be issued to all the financial institutions to increase Agriculture Credit to the farmers and also  increase Priority Sector Lending so as to benefit the unemployed youth and deprived people”, he said.
He also said that required connectivity need to be provided in the State by Mobile service providers like BSNL and sought the active intervention of Government of India for all these.
Citing Health & Education as priority sectors, he said “additional investment of  Rs. 6000.00 crore is required to upgrade and develop the infrastructure of all health centres, hospitals, institutes, training centres, hostel and accommodation facilities etc. including that of the Tomo Riba Institute of Health & Medical Sciences (TRIHMS), the only Medical Institute in the State with a hospital of 300 bed capacity”. He added that a Tertiary care cancer treatment centre is proposed to be made operational at TRIHMS this year.  He stressed on the need to establish an Ayurveda Medical College and one Pharmaceutical College in the State. He also placed to consider funding for establishment of one AIIMS like autonomous institution in the state.
In Education sector, he sought special assistance of Rs 1,349.13 Crore with budgetary provisions in the up-coming Union Budget specifically for development of educational infrastructures (Including Retro Fittings) in order to improve the Education scenario and bridge all the necessary gaps.
He also placed before the Union Minister to consider the Government of Arunachal Pradesh’s proposal  of Rs. 1,524.17 Crore as a fresh special package for Tirap, Changlang & Longding Districts to generate employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for the local people; to develop their vocational and traditional skills in order to wean away the youth from taking the path of violence and extortion.
Mein further placed for a composite package of Rs. 4690.08 Crore for infrastructure development of the border villages along Indo-China Border Areas which he pressed for consideration in the Union Budget 2019-20. He also requested to retain the allocation of Rs 80.00 Crore as LFY under BADP, which has been reduced to Rs. 65.00 crore as tentative allocation in the CFY.
Citing that the state government is committed to start and complete the Greenfield Airport at Holonggi in time, he proposed to sanction the balance amount of Rs. 645.66 Crore for early completion of the project and to place it under budgetary provisions in the up-coming Union Budget 2019-20.
“Allocation under NESIDS and NEC sponsored schemes may also be enhanced for creation of infrastructure development in the State of Arunachal Pradesh in a time bound manner”, Mein said.
Stressing on the need to maintain the high forest cover by providing the local population with alternative economic activities and to recognize the imputed monetary value of the Carbon Sinks, he further sought to increase the weightage for Forest Cover in the Fifteenth Finance Commission where a weightage of 10% were submitted before the Commission.
For successful implementation of solid waste management, plastic waste management, E-waste Management and Bio-medical waste management rules 2016, a proposal of Rs. 250.00 Crore was placed before the Govt of India to implement the above rules and to adhere to NGT direction  during current financial year 2019-2020.
He also requested for budgetary provision of Rs 300.00 Crores for the construction of permanent structure of Arunachal Bench of Guwahati High Court in Naharlagun in the up-coming Union Budget 2019-20.
In the non-availability of external aided funds from the International Agencies to Government of Arunachal Pradesh, he proposed for a lump-sum amount to be kept in the up-coming budget 2019-20 to compensate this great loss citing that it would help the State of Arunachal Pradesh to made progress at par with mainstream India.
The DCM who is the Minister in-charge of Finance represented Arunachal Pradesh in the 35th GST Council Meeting chaired by Union Finance Minister, Sitharaman.
With the objective of ease of doing business, to remove difficulties being faced by small taxpayers and to protect the revenue of Arunachal Pradesh, Mein expressed his views on myriad agenda items ranging from the New Return Filing System, Extension of dates of returns, to GST rates of various goods & services.
On the issue of a uniform rate for lotteries, Mein stated that there is a need to protect the interests of North Eastern States, and therefore he supported a uniform GST rate for both state run & state-authorized lotteries.
Mein was accompanied by Commissioner Tax, Excise and Narcotics, Anirudh Singh. DCM Media Cell

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
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