With a few days left for the crucial floor test, Chief Minister Harish Rawat trained his gun on the Centre again on Tuesday, saying that the State has been grappling with fund crunch because of the 14th Finance Commission recommendations.
“We are currently incurring a loss to the tune of Rs1400 crore annually and if you add 10 percent annual increment it would be around Rs1700 crore per annum,” he said while talking to the media.
To buttress his claim, CM cited Economic Survey report and Finance Minister Arun Jailtley’s letters. Jaitley had written, as per CM’s claim, that the fund transfer to Uttarakhand was Rs5,997 crore which is marginally less than Rs7,402 crore released to Uttarakhand during 2014-15.
CM further said that he was revealing things because of the tricky situation the Government was in. “Earlier, we vowed to release a white paper on the quantum of Central assistance,” he said.
Refuting the BJP allegation of the State Government failing to draw money because of its failure to submit utilization certificates, he said the real situation is different. “Being at the helm of things, I would continue to raise the issue of the State’s deprivation,” he said.
He said that he was ready to sacrifice anything if that is what is required to serve the interests of the State.
Countering the allegation of the nine dissident Congress MlAs Vijay Bahuguna, Harak Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Amrita Rawat, Shaila Rani Rawat, Shailendra Mohan Singhal, Umesh Sharma Kau and Kunwar Pranav Singh Champion, CM said he had done his best to bring about development in their Assembly constituencies since February 1, 2014-the day he became the CM.
Giving details regarding Sitarganj former CM Bahuguna’s constituency, CM said that he had completed several works started by his predecessor. “For instance, a road has been constructed linking Shaktifarm with SIIDCUl, ISBT, and Polytechnic. There are several others too,” he said.
Referring to Harak Singh Rawat’s constituency Rudraprayag, CM Rawat said that a nursing college and an agriculture college had been constructed in his village. “This aside, a sainik college came up there too. We allocated Rs43 crore for the development works in his constituency,” he said.
The same is true about Kedarnath, the constituency of MlA Shaila Rani Rawat, CM said, adding that he had inaugurated works worth Rs172 crore in Kedarnath.
“We have done a lot for MlA Champion’s constituency,” CM said, adding that he had allocated Rs three crore for Ganga Canal. “Narendranagar, the constituency of another rebel party MlA Subodh Uniyal, has seen development too,” CM said.