Advance loan of Rs 400 Cr sought

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jun 16: The State Government has approached the Finance Ministry for an advance loan of Rs 400 crore in order to solve the present financial crisis.
According to an official source, the appeal submitted by the State Finance Department to the Finance Ministry has been studied by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who reportedly showed possible sign of approving the said loan.
Even though the second quarter falls next month and the State Government had already taken a loan of Rs 250 crore in April for the first quarter of the current financial year, the Finance Department submitted the appeal for the advance loan in the face of the current financial crisis in the State.
The official mentioned that officials of the State who are at New Delhi might hear something regarding the advance loan tomorrow and added that if the advance loan is approved by the Finance Ministry, RBI will complete all the necessary process for the loan within 24 hours.
It may be mentioned that RBI has banned any form of fund sanction to Manipur from June 12 after the State Government  ran into an overdraft to the tune of Rs 274.48 crore.
The Government can borrow upto Rs 800 crore as loan from the open market for the current financial year and even Dy CM Y Joykumar, who was in charge of Finance, had claimed that the overdraft can be cleared from the Rs 305 crore which will be received by the State on June 21 as Central share.
However, even if the Central share is received, the financial situation has reached such a state that the salaries of Government employees and pensioner would be at stake as an amount of Rs 410 crore and Rs 110 crore are needed per month for the employees and pensioners respectively. It may also be mentioned that Chief Minister N Biren Singh had also highlighted the current financial condition of the State to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday.