Spend budgetary allocations evenly: PM Modi to ministries ahead of Budget Session

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked his Council of Ministers to ensure that the budgetary allocations for the respective ministries are spent evenly throughout the year and denounced the practice of utilising funds at the fag end of the financial year.

A month before the beginning of the budget session, Modi asked his ministers to get "out of the box" ideas from the common man through electronic means including web portals of various ministries so that they can be incorporated in the Union budget.

Addressing Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of States at his official residence, he made a presentation on e-books being prepared by various ministries and said transparency in governance should be achieved through e-means.

He also asked the Ministers to put the seven northeastern states as well as Sikkim on their map and asked them to spend "reasonable" duration of time in these states, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters after the meeting on Monday.

The Prime Minister's officials made a presentation on e-books and web portals on which various ministries have already started work.

Modi emphasised that more and more ideas should be taken from the people and recalled that the "Swacch Bharat" tagline was also a result of such interactions with the common man.

He said ministries should work in such a fashion that their budgetary allocations are spread evenly throughout the year and said at least the government departments should not spend their allocations at the fag end of the financial year.

He said spending the allocations uniformly is the best way to ensure that ministries get the desired budgetary allocation in the next financial year.

This is the first meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by Modi this year. He had been holding such meetings regularly with his ministerial colleagues after he assumed office in May last year.