Inadequate public access to budget info by Assam govt: CBGA

Guwahati, Mar 9 (PTI) The Assam government is not providing adequate public access to budgetary information that have been tabled in the assembly, according to a study by an organisation ''Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA)''.
Advocating the need to address the lacunae at the earliest to ensure better fiscal decentralisation, the study also identified a number of good practices adopted by the state government. It, however, found major gaps in public access to budget information.
"The state government does not provide many of the budget documents on the government website and also does not release to the public any report on the steps taken to address audit observations," CBGA Executive Director Subrat Das said.
Besides, in the process of formulation of five year plan and annual plans, most of the consultations are held with the legislators with few officials from the respective departments only.
The state plan documents also do not provide extensive information on women''s component plan or gender budgeting, Das added.
The analysis points out the state government does not clearly explains the basis on which various departments are reporting allocations under scheduled caste sub-plan, tribal sub-plan and women''s component plan and gender budgeting.
The budget documents further do not provide segregated information on devolution of funds to rural and urban local bodies at different tiers, he said.
The documents also do not provide information on the district-wise break-up of allocation and expenditure from the state budget.
On the positive fronts, the state government''s budget document provides complete information about outstanding debt at the beginning as well as at the end of the fiscal year.
The documents present extensive information on the transfer of resources between public sector undertakings and the state government, researcher Yasmin Banu Laskar of the North East Network which coordinated with CGBA said.
The state government also produces all the statements that are required under the disclosure norms of the State''s Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
The state Finance Commission has been constituted in a timely manner at regular intervals over the last decade, Laskar said.
Assam government also provided detailed information about allocations across various administrative departments under Scheduled Caste Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan with major head-wise allocation, she added.