The Finance department has impressed upon government departments the need for keeping economy in mind while preparing estimates for the 2023-24 budget.
It said the ''serious financial constraints'' faced by the State government call for ''extreme austerity'' in the budgeting exercise.
As a general rule, Finance department wants the non-Plan revenue budget, excluding salaries, to be retained at the level of the current financial year. This would entail economy measures in ‘‘all other spheres of activity”, and may require uneconomical schemes to be dropped and certain other measures, such as maintenance expenses, to be put off, it noted in a July 29 communique to department heads.
