Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 26: The state would lose Rs 2,148crore due to the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said Friday.
Orissa would lose Rs 2,148crore after the Centre, acting on the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, changed the pattern of funding for some schemes and stopped providing assistance to others, said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in a release after the CM chaired a review meeting on various Centrally-aided projects at the Secretariat.
The Centre has blocked funds for some major schemes and projects under the backward regions grant fund (BRGF), police modernisation, Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Shasaktikaran Abhiyan, model schools programme, tourism infrastructure and others including the KBK Yojana and integrated action plan (IAP) which were aimed at the development of Naxal-infested areas in the state.
Reviewing the impact of the reduction in Central assistance for different schemes, the Chief Minister asked officials to run some of these programmes from the state’s own resources.
Patnaik said the Centre would be requested to reconsider its decision and would be asked to continue funding important schemes like KBK and IAP for development of Naxal-hit areas.
Following the change in the Centre’s funding pattern, eight major centrally-funded projects in the state have been delinked from receiving any central assistance. Besides, the sharing pattern of the Centre and state for 31 projects is yet be cleared, officials in the finance department said earlier.
However, the Centre has refuted the claims of the state government. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said Orissa, following the finance commission’s recommendations, would get about Rs 8,000crore more per annum compared to the allocations under the 13th finance commission. “Under the 14th Finance Commission, Orissa would get Rs 24,416 crore against the amount of Rs 16,630 crore it got under the 13th commission. It will be around Rs 8,000crore more,” Pradhan had told the media.
