No.72/2020-2021

Aizawl, the 28th May 2020 : Following the decision by the Council of Ministers in its meeting on 22nd May 2020 regarding of austerity measures to combat economic fallout of COVID-I9, the following measures were notified today with immediate effect and until further orders.

A. BUDGETARY CUT: Since the source of income either from the Centre or State’s own revenues will be much below the estimate in BE, the apparent way of reducing our expenditures will be by enforcing budgetary cut in the following areas:

1. Office Expenses: Due to efficient lockdown during the last 45 days and also due to fewer activities of various departments in the current first quarter, there shall be 25% reduction from BE 2020-21.

2. Domestic Travel Expenses: Due to the same reason, travelling within the state has drastically reduced and travelling to other parts of the country is almost NIL. Hence 35% budgetary cut under DTE shall be made. However, due to the challenging tasks performed by Police Department, Health Departments and the eleven Deputy Commissioners, this reduction in DTE will not include these departments,

3. Medical Treatment: Re-appropriation of saving fund under Medical Treatment to other object heads shall not be permitted.

4. Supplies &Materials: All departments, with the exception of FCS&CA Department shall not exceed 85% of their BE for 2020-21 in respect of Supplies & Materials.

5. Grants in Aid (non-salary): 10% reduction shall be made in this regard.

6. Other Charges: 10% reduction from BE 2020-21 shall be made in respect of Other Charges. Power & Electricity Department should plan their power purchase based on the amount available for this and should not cross 90% of their BE.

7. Minor Works: In respect of Minor Works, 25% reduction from BE 2020 -21 shall be made. Departments should do maintenance works accordingly.

8. Major Works: 15% reduction shall be made with regard to Major Works and
Departments having Major Works shall not take up any work beyond the reduced
budget. This reduction will not include works taken up from other sources of
funding like, CSS, EAP, NABARD, etc.

This budgetary cut will not affect the additional budgetary allocation already made by Finance Department in 2020-21.

B. OTHER ECONOMY MEASURES: To reduce the expenditures of the Government, thefollowing measures shall be taken:

1. Foreign travel shall be banned unless the tour is sponsored by Govt, of India or other organizations so that State’s expenditure is not involved.

2. Under publication, print publication shall be avoided and publications in electronic forms shall be done wherever possible.

3. Online advertising and publicity should be encouraged.

4. POL entitlement per vehicle per month shall he reduced from 60 litres to 50 litres. This reduction of entitlement shall be applicable to all departments and proforma bills submitted to the treasury shall be accompanied by list of vehicles. POL for tours and operations beyond the normal entitlements shall be drawn by separate proforma and all such tours and operations with POL issued shall be properly entered in the respective car diaries.

5. The upper ceiling of entitlement of telephone/internet/mobile bills fixed vide GAD Order No.D,25011/10/2018-GAD/PM dated 27.06.2019 shall be reduced by 25%.

6. Procurement of IT equipment for semi-official use of entitled officer shall be put on hold.

7. Procurement of computers and laptops shall also be stopped unless the computerization of a particular scheme requires it.

8. Purchase of vehicles from State’s own fund shall be banned except where it is extremely necessary.

9. There shall be a ban on creation of posts. Post creation shall be done only when it is extremely necessary.

10. Direct recruitment shall be put on hold except where the same is extremely necessary. However, those recruitments which are already sent to the MPSC or MSSSB may continue.

11. Regularizations of Muster Roll/Provisional Employees and Contract employees shall be put on hold.

12. All compassionate appointments shall also be put on hold. However, those cases where the recruitment process has reached the final stage of approval shall continue.

13. To reduce the expenditure in Motor Vehicle repair, an Annual Maintenance Contract System shall be introduced. All Departments should do necessary-exercise by end of June 2020 and may submit to Finance Department (EA) in the first week of July, 2020.