Agartala:The Tripura government faced a serious financial crisis in the last quarter of current fiscal following non-release of sanctioned fund to the tune of Rs 3,905 crore in various projects during 2014-15, said Chief Secretary G Kameswar Rao.
He said initially the Finance Ministry assured them to release the fund, which was sanctioned under plan head and has been awarded by the 13th Finance Commission.
“The state finance has reached a critical phase that affects the ongoing development projects and compelled us to undertake any new project,” Mr Rao said.
He, however, pointed out that after dissolution of the Planning Commission, fund to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore, sanctioned under plan head, has been stuck up.
Apart from that no single rupee has been given to the state out of the Rs 475 crore Special Plan Assistance, which was sanctioned to Tripura in August as special category state along with seven other northeastern states, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, he informed.
Mr Rao said the Planning Commission had accorded the sanction of Rs 5,500 crore for 2014-15. Meantime, the Ministry of Finance had released Rs 2,500 crore under different heads so far. But after dissolution of the Commission, the ministry could not tell the state how the remaining fund will be paid to the state.
“Similarly, the tenure of the 13th Finance Commission is going to be over by March 31 and Tripura has due of Rs 300 crore, which was sanctioned for construction of Raj Bhawan, Police Academy, upgradation of education infrastructure and battalion headquarters of Tripura State Rifles. The state has already spent the money from other sources and sent utilization certi-ficates but now Finance Ministry has decided not to pay any outstanding amou-nt to the state, as the bud-get of the country shows deficit,” Mr Rao added.
The problem becomes acute in a few cases like drainage system of Agartala. After getting sanction of Rs 200 crore for sewerage and drainage system upgradation, the state government has undertaken the work on priority basis and also got the fund of Rs 20 crore.
“We consider it is an intentional and politically motivated step taken by the BJP-led government at the Centre to stop development in the state. Otherwise, deficit financing in the budget is a common phenomena for India and it has traditionally been managed through borrowing and it is compensated in the next budget but this government has taken a peculiar and unrealistic decision to put us in trouble,” alleged Finance Minister Bhanu Lal Saha. (UNI)