THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K M Mani has affirmed that the state will have a full budget ahead of the Union Budget, dispelling doubts on the annual exercise after it was made known that the Central Budget will be delayed on account of the Assembly polls in many states, covering till April. “We have to abide by the Constitutional requirement of passing the budget before March 31,” Mani told mediapersons here on Tuesday. Mani said that the Union Budget was expected to be presented on March 16 and usually, the state budget followed.Asked whether a full state budget would be presented, he said that a full budget includes a vote on account. “I will present a full budget,” he said. To a query on the rollback on pension age unification, Mani said that a sub-committee had been constituted to evaluate it thoroughly and a policy decision would be taken soon. He also said that 43.1 percent of the total plan funds for 2011-12 had been utilised so far and would go up in the remaining months of the fiscal. In the preceding year, it was only 42.29 percent. Though there is no fall in the GDP of the state, the reverse trend at the national level would result in a slash of the economic entitlement from the Centre, Mani felt. Referring to the stand of Tamil Nadu Government on the Mullaperiyar issue in the recent address of the Governor in the TN Assembly, Mani said that the implied suggestion that the ownership of the existing old dam was with the TN Government couldn’t be agreed. “The Mullaperiyar accord is a perpetual lease agreement, wherein Kerala is the leaser and TN the leasee,” he said. On whether the stand of the Kerala Congress after the deadline set by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a promised settlement has expired, Mani said that a cut-and-dry approach on the issue would not serve any purpose. “Time should be given to the Chief Minister. Anyway, the Kerala Congress will not stand in the way of the interests of Kerala,” he said. Asked on the clamour for a new district headquartered at Muvattupuzha, he said that would like to ignore it for the time being.
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