Bhubaneswar: Replying to a query made by BJD MLA Ashwini Patra in the Assembly, Odisha Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari today apprised the members of the House that the State Government is unaware of being rewarded with the ‘Bench-Maker Award-2019’ but has received less funds granted by the Centre despite the recommendations made by the 14th Finance Commission.
The Odisha Finance Minister informed the House that the 14th Finance Commission has also recommended for two other sectors besides the mandatory State share from the Central taxes between 2015-16 and 2019-20. The two main sectors are grants for the Local Self Governments and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
Elucidating on the recommendations made by the 14th Finance Commission to the Centre, Odisha Finance Minister told the Assembly that Rs 1,84,070 crore towards State share from the Central taxes while for the Local Self Governments Rs 10,623 crore: Rs 9383 crore towards Basic Grant, Rs 7965 crore for the Gram Panchayats, Rs 1418 crore for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), Rs 1240 crore towards Performance Grant: Rs 885 crore for Gram Panchayats and Rs 355 crore for ULBs.
Rs 3718 crore for SDRF, informed the Finance Minister to Assembly.
He further explained in the floor of the House that the Centre has granted Rs 1,18,521 crore against Rs 1,35,820 crore between 2015-16 and 2018-19 fiscal years out of the recommended Rs 1,84,070 crore. Thus, Rs 17,299 crore less funds received till date.
The 14th Finance Commission has recommended Rs 48,250 crore for the fiscal 2019-20 while Centre has allocated Rs 37,560 crore for Odisha in its Union Budget-2019 which is Rs 10,690 crore less, stated the Odisha Finance Minister.
The Minister also apprised the House about the less amount of funds received from the Centre towards the Divisible Pool, Basic Grant, Performance Grant, GST, etc.
“Besides all these, the State Government has also submitted its memorandums with various forums like the Inter-State Council, NITI Aayog and Central Government’s Pre-Budget Discussion to take into consideration the State’s share at 90:10 rate,” the Odisha Finance Minister apprised the members of Legislative Assembly.