BELAGAVI: Karnataka government has said that the Central assistance to the state has dipped drastically from 23% in 2016-17 to 17% in 2023 causing financial stress on the state.
During the Question Hour in the Council, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda responded on behalf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to Congress members’ questions and said Karnataka has a deficit of Rs 40,000 crore reduction in Central assistance and this has happened in the last five years.
“The budget in 2016-17 was just over Rs 2 .37 lakh crore, then the assistance was Rs 43, 369 crore (23.3%) while it is over Rs 3 lakh crore in 2023 and we are getting 76,000 crores which is just (17%). This means, if the Centre had maintained the same ratio, then Karnataka should have been receiving more money,” he said.
Byre Gowda said the special grants recommended by the 14th Finance Commission to the 15th Finance Commission were a sum of Rs 5,495 crore and an additional interim order passed by the 15th Commission to give grants of Rs 6,000 crore altogether a sum of over Rs 11,000 crore is pending. “However, the Centre is stating that the amount will be considered after the final order by the finance commission,” he said, adding that he is confident of the state getting that money by the end of the ongoing financial year.
This apart, the revenue minister said the Centre is also due to give Rs 1,141 crore as GST compensation to the state from 2022. “Of the Rs 2,333 crore, the Centre has allocated the state just Rs 1,191 crore,” he said. He said CM Siddaramaiah on August 10 wrote to Union Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman in this regard. “As of today, the Centre has released Rs 10,337 crore grant for centrally sponsored schemes while no money is being released towards social security schemes,” he said “Overall, if we secure the grants which are due to us, we can reduce the financial stress of Karnataka,” he said.
Earlier, MLC UB Venkatesh, who raised the question, alleged that the Centre has not released its share of grants, even though Karnataka is the second-highest tax state.
However, BJP members YA Narayanaswamy and others objected to it and said, “We are ready to discuss the grants allocated by the Centre to the state and how much is utilised.” This led to chaos in the House.