AGARTALA
: NITI Aayog member and top economist
Bibek Debroy
has accused the Left Front government in
Tripura
of not setting up a statutory state finance commission and not submitting utilisation certificates (UC) of Rs 591 crore allotted to the state in the last two years.
Talking to TOI, Debroy alleged that Tripura has failed at least on three counts to meet the requirements of the Union government to get financial support. Reacting to Sarkar's allegation that the state has been deprived of Rs 1,800 crore in terms of fund devolution in the wake of formation of NITI Aayog and dissolution of the Planning Commission, he said, "The Tripura government has neither formed the state finance commission mandated for proper utilization of funds nor submitted UCs of allotted funds in 2014-15."
He added that the Left Front government has also not responded to the Centre's queries relating to the estimated loss that a state may suffer following introduction of the Centre's new funding and financial management.
He said, "UCs of Rs 475 crore for the year 2014-15 and Rs 116 crore for the year 2015-16 have not been submitted yet. Moreover, setting up of a state finance commission is mandatory as per the Constitution to look into public finance and administration."
Refuting the state government's claim that the Centre has reduced the fund allocation ratio from 90:10 to 50:50 under centrally sponsored schemes even for special category states of the northeast, Debroy said the nomenclature of 'special category states' as introduced by the Gadgil Formula is no more applicable. However, there are two other categories - northeastern states and Himalayan states - who are still given funds in the 90:10 ratio and Tripura is one such state.
He added, "There was huge resentment among the states and the chief ministers used to complain against the Planning Commission. Now, the process of decentralization, which gives the state governments an opportunity to decide their own plans, is in the pipeline."
He said neither the Prime Minister nor the NITI Aayog have decided the procedure of development activities of states. Three committees headed by Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan, Parkash Singh Badal and Chandrababu Naidu recommended the funding.
Tripura CM was also a member. So, there is no point in blaming the Centre or NITI Aayog," he added.
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