Arunachal seeks more fund from Finance Commission

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh finance minister Kalikho Pul asked the 13th Finance Commission (TFC) to recommend an award of Rs 3,173.76 crore to meet its non-plan revenue deficit.

The 11-member TFC began a high level meeting with the state government led by chief minister Dorjee Khandu.

Pul, in a memorandum to the TFC, said that the state had a huge resource gap in the area of non-plan activity due to which it had not been able to transfer its liabilities from plan to non-plan side.

"We have also severe shortage of funds to maintain the assets resulting in deterioration of those critical infrastructures. Arunachal has been unable to meet even 10 to 20 per cent state matching shares against the central sponsored development schemes," it said.

The minister said in the 12th Finance Commission award that the state received only Rs 1,357.88 crore as revenue deficit
grant as compared to Rs 5,536.50 crore for Nagaland, Rs 4,391.88 crore for Manipur and Rs 2,977.79 crore for Mizoram, which has even less population than Arunachal.

Pul said that the state government had initiated bold measures of transferring the liabilities from plan to non-plan side and during the last financial year it had transferred the maintenance expenditure and committed salary expenditure amounting to Rs 150 crore along with over 13,000 posts from plan to non-plan side.

TFC acting chairman Atul Sarma said the demands made by the state would be seriously considered.