641 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড 53.The contracting industry lost the major portion of the construction season, many trucks and some other equipment. Its financial position, always precarious, is now critical and most firms are unable to establish contract even with their normal work force. Thoroughly demoralized and afraid, the firms appear unable to return to work and, with a few exceptions; they are unwilling to even think in these terms as yet. 54. Primary and secondary schools are now open in most areas, but attendance is very low. Most college and university teachers had returned, as requested, by early June, but they are demoralized and afraid and no one is predicting that the students will return in large numbers for the scheduled reopening on 2nd August. D. Public Revenue and Investment 55. Current Situation-Natural calamities coupled with political uncertainties which ultimately climaxed in the recent conflict have severely affected the provincial resource position and the pace of public investments throughout this fiscal year. 56. Provincial tax revenues are likely to amount to only about 50% of budget estimates (down from Rs. 380 million to some 190 million), and may still fall below that. Receipts other than taxes are also reduced considerably. The most drastic setback has been registered in land revenue, the most important single tax: collections by midMay amounted to no more than Rs. 23 million and for the fiscal year as a whole may, at best, yield some Rs. 40 to 50 million, compared to Rs. 150 million budgeted. This particularly poor record reflects the fact that there was considerable agitation against the present land revenue system during the election campaign so that the difficulties of collection began long before March 25. 57. Tax collections generally came to a halt in early March. They have only gradually been resumed at a much reduced scale in parts of the Province since the second half of May. Apart from provincial taxes, this disruption of tax collectionsclosely linked with the general disruption of the overall administrative system-has further affected the generation of centrally collected taxes with direct repercussions on public resources at the national level. Preliminary estimates indicate that provincial generation of central taxes this year is less by at least some 40 per cent than in 1969/70; this is reflected in turn in a reduction in the share of central taxes for the Province. 58. As a consequence of these developments, the current surplus originally budgeted for the Province has turned into a sizable deficit on the order of Rs. 200 million. In addition, the financial position of the railways and other public entities (such as EPWAPDA, EPIDC, EPADC, 1 WTA, EPSIC, EPRTC, etc.)-notoriously precarious in any case-has been severely affected. Their combined current deficits are now expected to be well above Rs. 300 million, this adding further to the stringent resource position of the Province. 59. In these circumstances, the public investment program could not remain unaffected-quite apart from other factors which have hampered, physically or otherwise, the execution of projects. As a result, this year's development program (including flood control) now stands reduced by about one-fourth-down from around Rs. 3400 (after
