Andhra Pradesh State Planning Board Vice-Chairman C. Kutumba Rao said here on Wednesday there was still confusion over the quantum of revenue deficit being given by the Centre but Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was pursuing the matter at the highest level to recover every single rupee that was due to the State.
“A.P. had pegged the revenue deficit at ₹16,000 crore two months before the bifurcation. The Ministry of Finance had an apprehension that A.P. had added some schemes later which widened the deficit. Otherwise, it needed to give only ₹4,000 crore. The State has submitted its figures to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) also. We expect to get clarity on the whole issue,” Mr. Rao said.
Addressing mediapersons, Mr. Kutumba Rao said even if one were to go by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement in Parliament that the deficit for 2014-15 was only ₹4,000 crore-plus, about ₹1,500 crore was yet to be released above the ₹2,600 crore claimed to have already been remitted.
Mr. Rao said the delay in extending financial support was partly due to the changes in accounting procedures being adopted by the Central government. Moreover, if the Financial Year (FY) began on January 1 as envisaged by the Centre, States might be asked to revise their 2017-18 Budgets.
The shift from ‘plan and non-plan expenditure’ regime to that of ‘revenue and expenditure’ was another issue concerning the States.
Earlier, combined Utility Certificates could be submitted in respect of different programmes implemented by a particular department but this practice had been discontinued. The certificates were to be submitted for each one of those schemes under the new system.
Besides, the Central government had reduced its share in the Centrally-sponsored schemes while increasing the devolution to States from 32% to 42%.
