Bihar govt to demand increased allocation of funds from Centre

Patna: The Bihar government will urge the 15th Finance Commission to raise the allocation of tax revenue shared by the states on the pattern of the 11th Finance Commission recommendations, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has said.

It will also demand that henceforth the entire expenditure for disaster management in Bihar be borne by the Centre, he said in a statement here. A team of the 15th Finance Commission, led by its Chairman N K Singh, will be on a three-day tour of Bihar from July 10.

Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio, said in the statement yesterday, "The 11th Finance Commission had fixed allocation of 12.589 per cent of the tax revenue shared by the states which was slashed to 9.6 per cent by the 14th Finance Commission".

The deputy chief minister also alleged that the 14th Finance Commission had "allocated Rs 2,591 crore for Bihar for disaster management, though the outlay for states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan was much higher at Rs 8,195 crore and Rs 6,094 crore respectively.

"This was despite the fact that we face both droughts and floods everywhere. The floods last year involved an expenditure of about Rs 5,000 crore. We would demand that henceforth the entire expenditure for disaster management in Bihar be borne by the Centre".

The state government, he said, will submit a memorandum and make a presentation before the team on July 12. The state government will also discuss with the visiting team various schemes under the agricultural road map and seven resolutions of CM Nitish Kumar, he added.

During the three-day visit, the commission members will have meetings with the state ministers, political parties, panchayati raj organizations, urban local bodies and representatives of industry and trade.