KOCHI: Kerala has lost a total of Rs 15,300 crore from the Centre on various fronts including GST compensation and cut in taxes for corporate houses, Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said here on Sunday.
The Finance Minister said while the Union government owes Kerala about Rs 3,200 crore as GST compensation, the state has lost another Rs 5,600 crore due to reduction in tax revenues by the Centre which benefitted corporate houses.
Talking on the sidelines of the launch of the Kerala Professionals Network at Cusat here, Isaac said the Centre has also cut the loan amount to Kerala by Rs 6,500 crore.
“As per the 14th Finance Commission ruling, we’re entitled to get a specific amount from the Union government. Of this, we’ll receive Rs 5,600 crore less due to the big tax concessions by the Centre,” the finance minister said. “The Centre has also cut down the loan share to the state by Rs 6,500 crore,” he added.
Isaac said the state government would take up the matter seriously at the next GST Council meeting, scheduled on December 18.He said other states including Puducherry, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Punjab are also with Kerala on the issue. Orissa, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are yet to make their stance clear, he said.
Rebuts udf’s white paper
Earlier in his inaugural address, Isaac rebutted the points made by the UDF in its white paper on the state’s financial crisis. He said the government during the three-and-half years have given Rs 35,000 crore for development projects. He said this amount compares with the funds provided by three previous governments --- the Oommen Chandy-led UDF regime, the LDF government under V S Achuthanandan and the A K Antony government before that. “The funds allocated for development projects by the three previous governments were less than Rs 40,000 crore,” he claimed. In addition to the Rs 35,000 crore, the current LDF government has sanctioned Rs 45,000 crore outside the budget through KIIFB, he added.
He said once the Cochin Cancer Care becomes operational, 85 per cent of the care in the state will come into government hospitals. This will have an immediate impact on private hospitals, which will be under pressure to cut prices.
State Planning Board Vice-Chairman V K Ramachandran gave the presidential address, while Dr Jose Chacko Periyapuram, former MP P Rajeev and architect G Shankar also spoke.