PANAJI
The three-member Third State Finance Commission is likely to submit its report to the Goa Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai, next week. The five-year plan, which is expected to be placed in the Budget Session of the State Legislative Assembly, scheduled in February, will be implemented between 2024 to 2029.
After almost 12 years, in January 2022, the State government had constituted the Third State Finance Commission under former retired finance secretary IAS Daulat Hawaldar. The formation of the Third State Finance Commission was pending since 2009-10, after the term of Second State Finance Commission headed by IAS officer late Alban Couto expired in 2010.
Sources informed that the Third Finance Commission report is ready and the same will be submitted to the Goa Governor next week. “The plan has to be implemented from financial year 2024 onwards. Before that it has to be passed by the Cabinet and tabled in the State Assembly,” sources said.
Making rural and urban local governing bodies self-reliant, ways to augment their own source of revenue and granting powers to these local bodies to levy and collect taxes and fees, are some of the crucial areas that the Commission has focused upon.
“Currently, panchayats and municipalities are widely dependent on Central and State grants. It is important that we empower these local governing bodies for bringing sustainability,” sources said.
The report was prepared after detail discussion and consultation with all the village panchayats and municipalities including the local elected representatives.
Goa’s first Finance Commission was set up in 1999 and in its report it had made 26 recommendations on functions, administration, and finances of the local bodies, out of which, 15 were accepted, nine were rejected and two were partly accepted.
The second SFC made recommendations on devolution of finances according to the programmes/schemes executed by different tiers of local self-Government through its report in 2008. However, none of its recommendations were implemented.
