MANGALURU: “Injustice has been meted out to Karnataka in receiving its share of Central funds, despite being the second-largest contributor of GST in the country, and we continue to fight against it,” Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said on Friday. Delivering his message on the occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava in Mangaluru, Gundu Rao, who is also the Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister, stated, “There is a drastic cut in Karnataka’s share of Central taxes by the Finance Commission. There is a reduction in grants in the form of compensation.
No state should undergo such a situation. We need to remember how Karnataka is treated unjustly in receiving Central funds on the day of Karnataka Rajyotsava. States should not get the notion that their share is being denied and given to somebody else.
The Karnataka government has questioned this injustice and raised its voice in the interest of the state and Kannadigas,” he said. He further claimed that Karnataka has been successful in controlling its population, while Hindi-speaking North Indian states, which are educationally backward and have failed to control population growth, will receive more Lok Sabha seats. In contrast, Southern states like Karnataka, with lower population growth, will lose seats. “The Centre’s plans to reduce the representation of Southern states at the Central level is a matter of concern,” he said.
He added that the state government’s aim is to make Karnataka prosperous, for which several pro-people schemes have been implemented.
“We are giving equal importance to every region in the state and have doubled our efforts to address regional imbalances. We held a cabinet meeting in Kalaburagi recently and announced several projects,” he said. Meanwhile, as many as 60 achievers in different fields and 22 organizations were honored with district awards.