From Our Correspondent
AGARTALA: The Left Front government in Tripura on Wednesday came under fire as Union Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said Tripura was given an abrupt hike in the outlay of 13th Finance Commission.
The 13th Finance Commission has awarded Rs. 13,127 crore to Tripura which is more than what the 12th Finance Commission had given to the state, he said while addressing a rally here.
Refuting the charge of deprivation by the 13th FC, Meena said, “The Finance Commission is a constitutional body which is entrusted to finalize non-plan outlay of states. As per the convention, it had consulted with the state government before finalizing outlay for the state. It seems the state has failed to project its need before the FC”.
“The state government could have taken up the issue with the Centre to get more funds to meet the non-plan expenditure till 2014-15 FY”, he said.
More than 20% of the funds on an average remained unspent in the state as a result of which people remained backward, Meena the union minister of state for finance told a mass gathering organised by the opposition Congress here.
“On one hand money remains unspent, on the other hand there is huge financial corruption, so money is not reaching the people and development is not taking place in the state,” Meena alleged.
He said there was no dearth of central funds for allocating to backward states, but utilization certificate must be deposited to get more money.
Meena said the Centre had allocated Rs. 86000 crore to implement various welfare schemes during the past 19 years. “Unfortunately, funds meant of development have not been utilized properly. That’s why the state remains laggard in terms of all-round development”, he said.
Citing instance, Meena alleged the Centre had allocated funds for development of Agartala city.
“Only 20 percent money out of total outlay was spent so far. Not only this, Central funds are being misused in the Marxist rule state”, he said.
Counteracting the state government’s claim that the 13th Finance Commission had deprived the state, he said the commission has allocated Rs 13127 crore which was 56 per cent higher than the allocation given by the 12th Finance Commission.
AICC general secretary Luizinho Faleiro also hammed the Left Front government for pushing the state towards a bleak future.
“All round development still remains an elusive in Tripura despite availability of crores of money”, he said rubbishing the Left Front charge’s of deprivation.
Faleiro also pinched the state government as the state is home to around 25 lakh BPL population.
Calling for ouster of the government, Faleiro said if the Congress came to power, it would provide dearness allowance to state employees at Central government rates.
PCC president Sudip Roy Barman, opposition leader Ratan Nath Nath, former Chief Minister Samir Ranjan Barman and MLA Gopal Roy were remained present in the rally. (With inputs from PTI)