Cash starved UP has petitioned the Centre to release its share of funds in the absence of which ‘implementation of development schemes have been impeded’.
Senior officials of different departments including Power, Irrigation, PWD, Forest, Finance, Planning Commission, Health and Social Welfare have been asked to meet their counterparts in Delhi and ask them to release UP’s share in Center’s assistance schemes at the earliest.
A senior official told ‘The Pioneer’ on Wednesday that the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission have squeezed fiscal assistance from the Centre. In the given scenario, it is of paramount importance that UP gets its pending dues from the Centre.
“This year there has been 44 per cent decline in the fiscal assistance in Central government assisted projects. The state government is now being forced to make up for this loss from its own exchequer. UP is also not getting its share of Central taxes and this skewed distribution has stymied the development of the state,” the official said.
The official pointed out that the 14th Finance Commission recommendations pegged UP’s share at Rs 94,314 crore. But in reality there is just an increase of Rs 7,585 crore. This fiscal space is not enough to keep the engine of development going.
He said that the Union government has delinked many schemes from the budget meaning thereby that the state will have to operate these schemes on its own. The 44 per cent cut in Central budget will put an additional burden of Rs 8,500 crore on the state exchequer.
In this scenario the state is not getting its share from central assistance schemes. There are many schemes where UP has not being paid its share of funds. “The Centre has approved Rs 3521 crore for the development of Bundelkhand. But till date the state has received only Rs 1845 crore,” the official said.
“Under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) project worth Rs 1500 crore were sanctioned but the Centre was yet to release the money. Under some projects, roads have been constructed on the direction of Centre believing that money would be released soon. In many cases roads have been constructed but the state is yet to get funds,” he said.
The official further pointed out, “Under the PMGSY-2 scheme, projects worth Rs 1,134.54 crore was sanctioned in 2013-14 but the state did not receive a single penny.”
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly written to Prime Minister in the recent past urging him to release the funds stuck at various departments of the Union government. He has asked funds for Metro Rail, National Highways, Four-lane highways in all districts, 3200 meter long runway at Kushinagar airport, Etawah-Mainpur rail scheme and Greenfield air port scheme of Firozabad.