Coming down heavily on Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, here on Saturday, said getting a share of the taxes that is collected by the Union government is the State’s right and should not be considered a favour.
“The Union government is not providing funds out of charity, but fulfilling its duty,” he told presspersons. Mr. Shah, during the inauguration of BJP’s Paivarthana Yatra rally in Bengaluru earlier this week, had said the Centre had provided adequate grants to the State, but the State government had not utilised the funds optimally.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said instead of doing a “hit and run”, Mr. Shah should come out with facts on how we spend the funds.
“The State has the right to claim its share in the taxes collected by the Centre. As per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the State should get 42% of the taxes collected. The Centre keeps the remaining 58%,” he said. The State should get ₹1.86 crore in five years.
“They release funds in tune with the collection of taxes. As per the projection, the State should have got ₹96,000 crore in three years. But, there is a shortage of ₹11,000 crore as of now,” he said. There are other grants for specific programmes, such as drinking water projects, where the State and Centre share the expenses, he explained.
