The national vice-president of the BJP B.S. Yeddyurappa demanded that the State government come out with a White Paper on the financial situation of the State.
As per information available with him, the financial situation of the State was bad and development activities were starved of funds.
Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi city on Saturday, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that despite the State getting more funds from the devolution of funds from the Centre under the 14th Finance Commission and other heads, it was not in a position to provide more funds for key departments like Water Resources and Agriculture.
The State would be getting Rs. 1,80,566 crore as its share under the 14th Finance Commission recommendations from 2015 to 2020, Rs. 1,21,875 crore more than its share under the 13th Finance Commission. Mr. Yeddyurappa charged the State government of not utilising the interest-free assistance of Rs. 6,000 crore extended by the Union government for paying off dues to sugarcane growers. The State government had so far not cleared Rs. 3,440 crore due to growers.
If the claims of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that the finances of the State were good and resource mobilisation was on expected lines, why have ongoing major irrigation projects not been provided funds, asked Mr. Yeddyurappa. He pointed out that of the Rs. 1,000 crore allocated for the Hyderabad-Karnataka Region Development Board, only Rs. 1.6 crore had been spent. Many people-centric programmes launched by the previous BJP government including the Suvarna Grama Yojna and the Suvarna Bhoomi programme have been buried.
