By Our Special Correspondent
Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that the NITI Aayog's claim that Telangana has drawn only Rs.200 crore while the Center has allocated Rs.3,982 crore under the Jaljeevan Mission is untrue.
Speaking to the media here on Sunday, the Minister said that the funds have not been released even though the Center has allocated them. Instead of making a political statement, NITI Aayog should pressure the Center to implement the recommendations made by the CAG and the Finance Commission, he said. The minister brought to the notice that the state government has written several letters requesting the release of Mission Bhagiratha funds in the last three years.
Harish Rao said that between 2014-15 and 2021-22, Rs.15, 47,560 crore has been collected through cesses and surcharges, and the Center has proposed to collect another Rs.5.35 lakh crore in the current financial year, bringing the total to Rs.21 lakh crore. Out of which the share of states is around Rs. 8.60 lakh crores.
Telangana's share in cesses and surcharges is Rs.42, 000 crore. Harish Rao questioned why such issues were not discussed in NITI Aayog meetings. The finance minister also dismissed the Centre's claim that the share of the states has increased from 32 per cent to 42 per cent in the central division.
He explained that as the Center collects cesses and surcharges, the share of the states in the central allocation has come down to 29.6 percent. “Centre's share in Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) has also been reduced from 100 per cent to 60 per cent. NITI Aayog claims to have doubled funding under CSSs. But, that is not correct. He explained that the state got Rs.6, 000 crores in 2015-16, Rs.6, 695 crores in 2016-17 and Rs.5, 223 crores in 2021-22.
The Center has stopped several programs like model schools and other CSS, resulting in an additional burden of Rs 2,785 crore on the state for such schemes in 2018-19, he said. Harish Rao reminded that the Center has not accepted the recommendations of the Finance Commission such as state specific grant of Rs.3,024 crore and sector specific grant of Rs.2,350 crore for Mission Bhagiratha.
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