Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has informed the assembly that Rs 139 crore was spent for COVID-19 related, medical and non medical expenditures in efforts to contain the pandemic in the state.
Making a statement on the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the state at the Nagaland legislative assembly on August 13, Rio said out of Rs 139 crore, Rs 112 crore was spent from the state government’s own sources. The amount included around Rs 3.35 crore from CM relief fund, he added. He said, despite being a revenue deficit state without enough resources, the state government has taken all possible steps to combat COVID-19.
Further elaborating on the expenditure incurred so far, the CM informed that more than Rs 62 crore was spent on improving medical infrastructure and putting in place systems, equipments and workforce for “winning the battle against the pandemic. For such purposes, the assistance from the Centre and other sources was only about Rs 10 crore, he maintained.
“The remaining about Rs 52 crore is all from the state’s own resources,” Rio said.
In this connection, he claimed that the state government had taken several measures to mobilise additional revenue though getting resources has been tough given our overall constraints and reduction in the revenues due to pandemic and lockdown.
Meanwhile, in a written reply to an un-starred question by MLA Chotisuh Sazo, Rio stated that Rs. 7.42 crore was received from central government. He added that an amount of Rs. 3 crore was received from North Eastern Council, which has been directly credited to the medical department’s account.
The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority has also been sanctioned Rs 45.56 crore by the Centre under SDRF 2020-21. Out of this, 35 percent can be used for the COVID-19 pandemic which amounts to Rs 15.94 crore. The first installment of Rs 22.78 crore has been received from the Centre and out of the 1st installment; Rs 15.94 crore has been spent on COVID-19 pandemic related activities.
Fund received from the National Disaster Response Fund stands as Rs 130.73 crore for 2018-19 and Rs 176.52 crore for 2019-20.
