Uttarakhand Covid latest: Focusing on micro picture is key to recouping lost fortune
Uttarakhand suffers Rs 8,000 crore loss due to Covid lockdown, experts point out key to revival
Uttarakhand has suffered a revenue loss of about Rs 7,000-8,000 crore due to the lockdown imposed to battle Covid-19 pandemic, with tourism, transport and industries among the worst-affected sectors, said state officials.
Due to a near-complete lockdown in the first two phases, the economic activities in the state had largely come to a halt, a situation which improved in the third-phase with the resumption of some industrial activities and the opening of liquor shops. However, the state officials estimate that the revenue loss in the first two phases has been substantial. Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said on Monday that it will take about a year for the state to recover.
“The state’s economy has definitely suffered due to the lockdown. As per our primary assessment, there has been an estimated revenue loss of about Rs 7,000-8,000 crore during the lockdown period,” said Amit Negi, secretary finance department.
Negi said, “The major sectors which have been affected hard due to the pandemic are tourism, transport, industry and mining. Except for agriculture, all the major revenue-generating sectors have been largely affected.”
The senior bureaucrat, however, said that with certain measures the government can borrow some additional revenue as declared in the economic relief package announced by the centre.
“Recently the Centre has increased the Gross State Domestic Product borrowing capacity by 2% taking the total to 5%. Though, only about 0.50% of it is unconditional, it would still mean that the government will be able to borrow an additional Rs 1,200 crore to its existing limit of about Rs 8,000 crore. The remaining percentage of additional borrowing require some conditional reforms, if we manage to do at least two or three of those reforms then our additional borrowing can go up to Rs 2,200 crore, which will help cut down this revenue shortfall,” he said.
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Negi also said that the GST compensation would further reduce the revenue gap helping the state economy gradually recover in the coming months.
Economic experts, however, believe that the state government needs a three-tier plan and focus on the micro economy for revival.
Indu Kumar Pandey, a retired IAS who is chairing a high-level committee constituted by the state government to suggest measures for economic revival said, “A three-tier strategy including a short-term, middle-term and long-term one should be framed. The short-term strategy will comprise plans for a period of six months, followed by plans for six months to two years in middle-term strategy and plans for a period of up to two years and more under the long-term strategy.”
Pandey said, “It is also important to focus on the micro-economy till the last level, including that of villages and blocks. Also, a thorough sector-wise analysis of the present situation is needed to frame a comprehensive strategy for economic revival.”
The chairman of the committee said, “It is equally vital to analyse the major sectors of the state-- tourism, service and agriculture which are the most affected by this pandemic. While doing so, it is also important to shed light on sub-sectors such as ecotourism, leisure tourism and religious tourism under the tourism sector. We have to touch every aspect of the village and the block level for which the district administrations have to be made responsible.”
