With Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely meeting the State Finance Ministers in New Delhi on Monday, Odisha Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat is getting ready to present State’s Budget wish list at the meeting.
Amat is all set to make big demands before the Centre before presentation of the Union Budget, said a senior official of the Finance Department. Additional Chief Secretary Finance UN Behera will accompany Amat to the meeting.Odisha among other States is facing tough time as the Union Government has stopped compensating the States for the losses incurred due to reduction of Central Sales Tax (CST), a tax imposed on inter-State movement of goods.
During 2010-11, Odisha received compensation of Rs 256 crore against loss of Rs 664 crore and it is yet to receive the rest amount of Rs 408 crore.
More alarmingly, the State has not received such compensation for the last three years beginning 2011-12. The total compensation amounts to Rs 2,500 crore, said the official. States are suffering losses as the CST has been slashed down from four to two per cent. While the Centre is not compensating losses, the States have insisted on restoring the earlier CST rate of 4 per cent till implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
This being the backdrop, Amat is believed to make a demand of making provisions in the Union Budget for adequately compensating the States for CST loses.The official said State’s fiscal situation has been strained due to untimely payment and, in some cases, due to non-release of Central assistances. He said the State received only Rs 38 crore under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP) while it spent Rs 1,084 during 2012-13.
He also cited MGNREGA under which the State has received only Rs 757 crore against the approved Central share of Rs 1,363 crore during 2013-14.Hence, Amat is going to seek adequate provisions for the State in the upcoming Budget, said sources close to Amat.State’s other demands include setting up of Nationalised Bank branches in all the 4,620 unbanked gram panchayats.