Treasury restriction repeats; restriction in April happening for first time

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has imposed restrictions on the treasury at the beginning of the financial year itself. This is the first time that restrictions have been imposed on the treasury in April itself. The proposal is that prior approval of the finance department is needed to pass bills above one lakh rupees. Treasury officials say that they have not yet received an official notification in this regard. Earlier itself, the finance department's permission was required to pass bills above Rs 5 lakh at the start of April. The Finance Department's explanation is that the restriction is to prevent the salary and pension from being delayed.

No notification regarding loan sanction has been received from the Centre till now. What should come is the figures of loans that can be taken up to and after December. The condition is that up to 3% of the gross domestic product can be borrowed. Accordingly, a loan of Rs 37,000 to 41,000 crore can be taken. There is no notification of how much amount will be deducted from this, including the loans of KIIFB and Social Security Mission. The state had asked for a temporary loan of Rs 5,000 crore for the time being but got only Rs 3,000 crore. That will be taken on the 30th. Kerala had approached the Supreme Court against the Centre's strictness in sanctioning loans.