Though the Union government was making tall claims on a daily basis, both in Parliament and outside, that there was no effect of economic slowdown in the country, the facts are quite different, the Telangana government said here on Saturday.
Due to the economic slowdown prevailing in the country, the state was not getting 14 per cent of GST collections, a release from the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's office said.
The Chief Minister held a meeting with officials on the States financial position, funds due from the Centre and other issues, it said.
Observing that substantial funds are due from the Centre, Rao has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman seeking release of the funds, it said.
Rao plans to visit Delhi soon to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sitharaman to apprise them of the difficulties that arose because of funds not being released from the Centre, it said.
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It also said the state officials have been told by their Central counterparts that the decrease in allocation of funds could be even much higher.
.... For the financial year 2019-20, for Telangana State under the taxes sharing, the Centre announced in its Budget that it will give Rs 19, 719 Crore.
This is 6.2 per cent more than the allocations made in the 2018-19 Budget of Rs 18,560 Crore.
However, in the last six months, the Centre gave Rs 10, 304 Crore only as the tax share, it said.
In the last financial year, for the eight-month period, the Centre gave Rs 10,528 Crore.
In other words, compared to 2018-19 financial year, this fiscal, the Centre gave Rs 224 Crore less till date, it claimed.
This would mean that as against 6.2 per cent hike as proposed in the current financial year Budget, there is in fact a decline of 2.13 per cent.
Instead of getting Rs 700 Crore more from the Centre, the Telangana State is given Rs 924 Crore less, it said.
State Principal Secretary (Finance) Ramakrishna Rao had recently visited Delhi and brought to the notice of the Central officials that Telangana got 8.3 per cent less on the tax share account.
Responding to him, the central government officials said that situation is grim and cautioned that the decrease may well go up from 8.3 per cent to 15 per cent,the release said.
There is no match between what the Union Ministers are proclaiming in the Parliament and the ground realities.
This is very surprising. If this situation continues, the states financial position may turn grave," it said.
"It is like a person losing his clothes when in fact he was asking for a morsel of food. The economic situation is in a state of uncertainty, it said.
Rao said he has instructed the Principal Secretary (Finance) to reduce funds for alldepartments in tune with the decrease in funds from Centre and also asked all departments to cut down on expenditure, it said.
The present difficult situation is due to the faulty policies of the Centre, it alleged.
It was clear at the review meeting that it was due to the faulty polices of the Centre has lead to the present difficult situation, the release said.
The Centre had also failed to give Rs 2,812 Crore IGST funds as part of the GST for 2017-18, it alleged.
The Centre, while implementing the GST Act, had assured states that it would compensate them if the GST revenue was less than 14 per cent.
Due to the economic slowdown prevailing in the country, the Telangana state is not getting 14 per cent of GST collections, it said.
Moreover, the Centre has to give Rs 1,719 Crore as GST compensation dues.
Rao, in his letter to Sitharaman, asked the Centre to release these fundsm the release added.
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