Dehradun: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami requested the 16th Finance Commission for appropriate compensation in accordance with the spirit of environmental federalism in view of the cost of environmental services. He suggested increasing the weight prescribed for forest cover in tax transfer by 20 percent. Said that special grants should also be considered for proper management and conservation of forests in the state. Dhami also advocated special grants for infrastructure facilities for the population coming from outside (floating population) in the state.
The Chief Minister was presenting the state’s side in a meeting with the Commission Chairman Dr. Arvind Panagariya and other members at the State Secretariat on Monday. He elaborated on the financial conditions, challenges and development needs of the state. He welcomed the members of the Commission Anne George Mathew, Dr. Manoj Panda, Dr. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Secretary Ritwik Pandey, Joint Secretary KK Mishra. Finance Secretary Dilip Jawalkar gave a detailed presentation on various challenges of the state. Dr. Panagariya said that there will be extensive discussions to find solutions to the challenges faced by Uttarakhand and other hill states. Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, L. Fanai, R. Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretaries and Additional Secretaries were present in the meeting.
A mechanism for compensation of hydropower projects should be created
The Chief Minister said that due to the rules implemented after declaring Ganga as a national river, the possibilities of hydropower generation in Uttarakhand have become limited. The hydropower sector is not able to make the expected contribution to the economy due to various reasons, causing huge loss of revenue as well as employment. He requested to determine the amount of compensation for the affected projects and the related mechanism.
Special assistance should be given for the infrastructure of floating population
The CM said that due to the constantly coming population (floating population) in the state, additional infrastructure has to be developed for transport, drinking water, health, waste management and other services. Therefore, keeping in mind the high cost of infrastructure construction in the state due to complex geographical conditions, special assistance should be provided.
Financial assistance is necessary for disaster relief and rehabilitation
The CM said that the state of Uttarakhand is very sensitive to various natural disasters like earthquake, landslide, cloudburst and avalanche. Continuous financial assistance is required to deal with these disasters effectively.
Revenue requirement grant should be given in place of revenue deficit grant
The CM advocated the inclusion of fiscal discipline as a component in the devolution formula in the norms of sharing between the states under tax transfer. He said that it would be rational to implement revenue requirement grant in place of revenue deficit grant. Due to the geographical structure of the state, both capital expenditure and maintenance cost are high. The credit-deposit ratio in the state is also low.
Unemployment reduced by 4.4 percent, per capita income increased
The CM said that in the last 25 years, the state has made remarkable progress in the field of financial management like other areas. To develop the basic infrastructure of the state, we had to depend on external loans. The state has achieved remarkable achievements on the basis of various parameters of development. The size of the budget crossed Rs 1 lakh crore. The unemployment rate of the state has come down by a record 4.4 percent. In terms of per capita income, an increase of 11.33 percent has been recorded, which is more than the national average.
More money has to be spent for forest conservation
The CM said that more money has to be spent for the conservation of forests as more than 70 percent of the total geographical area of the state is covered with forests. Eco service cost also has to be paid due to the ban on any other development activity in the forest area.
Special budget arrangements have to be made for the mountains
Dhami said that after the end of the industrial concession package in the year 2010, the state is facing difficulty in compensating the loss related to allocation. Due to difficult geographical conditions and other practical difficulties, the participation of the private sector in important sectors like education and health in the mountainous areas of the state is very limited. Due to this, special budget provisions have to be made for these areas.
Request for special grant for water conservation
The CM requested to consider special grant for water conservation. He described Uttarakhand as a very sensitive state in terms of natural disasters. He said that the state needs continuous financial support to deal with these disasters effectively and for relief and rehabilitation work. He gave information about SARA established to revive water sources and Bhagirath App for the participation of common citizens.
