CHENNAI: The AIADMK general council meeting on Sunday urged the central government to ensure devolution of funds to Tamil Nadu without any partiality. A resolution adopted in this regard at the meeting also urged the 16th Finance Commission to hike the devolution of funds up to 50%, besides bringing cess and surcharge under the ambit of devolution of funds.
The resolution said the financial allocation provided to the states by the Finance Commission is high for states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, and less for developed states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
“Not even one-fourth of the revenue that goes to the central government treasury from Tamil Nadu is devolved to Tamil Nadu. Due to this, a situation arises where development projects cannot be implemented. At present, according to the criteria for financial allocation followed by the central government, manufacturing states like Tamil Nadu are being severely affected. This financial allocation method should be reconsidered,” the resolution added.
The meeting adopted 16 resolutions on various topics. The resolutions condemning the DMK government included the hike in power tariff, property tax, house tax, water tax, milk, registration fee, stamp paper cost, etc.
Other resolutions against the state government included failure to take steps for releasing convicts who have been imprisoned for more than 20 years in prison, failure to safeguard the rights of the SC/STs, and failure to take any step to abolish NEET as promised.
Resolutions against the state also included failure to fulfil electoral promises on reverting to the old pension scheme, setting right the anomalies in the salaries for teachers, doctors and nurses, etc, and delay in taking timely action to prevent giving license to tungsten mining in Madurai district and urging the centre to give up this proposal. Another resolution urged the DMK government to conduct a caste census on the lines of other states.
AIADMK deputy general secretary KP Munusamy said those who were part of the AIADMK regime in the past and those who had benefitted from being part of the power, should wholeheartedly extend financial assistance to grassroots-level functionaries who have no wherewithal to spend for party events.
AIADMK organising secretary CVe Shanmugam said, “The media is being used to psychologically weaken us. The DMK knew the strength of AIADMK better than the members of AIADMK. That is why to demoralise the AIADMK cadre, false news about AIADMK is being spread. AIADMK has faced these things from the times of party founder MG Ramachandran.”