The finance department of Andhra Pradesh has initiated the exercise of preparing a full pledged budget for the financial year 2024-25, which is expected to be presented in the state assembly during October for approval.
While the previous YCP government approved only the Vote on Account budget in view of general elections, the present Chandrababu Naidu government also opted for the Vote on Account budget last month, realizing the need to study the financial mess created by the previous government in depth.
As a result the full-fledged budget has to be approved before the end of November, the Finance Department has already started the exercise. It has already obtained proposals at the basic level from the government departments for preparing the budget.
The additional secretary level officer in the finance department has currently arranged meetings with the officials of various departments to discuss the procedures for the preparation of a full-fledged budget in accordance with the government’s priorities.
Discussions were held with about 19 government departments on Monday and Tuesday. These will be continued on Wednesday with the key water resources, roads and Panchayat Raj departments. After collating the information here, the Chief Secretary of the Finance Department will meet with the Chief Secretaries and Special Chief Secretaries of all government departments.
These meetings will be held consecutively from September 2. Later, Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav will discuss the budget proposals with the ministers of all government departments.
The role of the finance department officials in budget formulation in the Jaganmohan Reddy government remains nominal. With the help of consultancies, proposals were brought to fruition. The top officials of the finance department used to sit somewhere outside and finalize the figures at the end.
But, the Chandrababu Naidu government is making elaborate exercises for preparation of the budget, keeping in view its areas of priorities, financial constraints and plans for improving financial resources.