Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam said the Central government was constitutionally obliged to compensate the States for any shortfall in GST collections.
Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa supported the Centre in the successful implementation of GST, on the assurance of constitutional protection for compensation, he said at the pre-budget consultations with Finance Ministers of States and U.T.s by the Union Minister for Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, in New Delhi. “However, issues pertaining to distribution of GST-related dues to States remain a serious concern,” Mr. Panneerselvam said. “The Union government is yet to provide the IGST arrears for 2017-18, amounting to ₹4,073 crore to Tamil Nadu,” he pointed out. Welcoming the initiative of the GST council to form a Group of Ministers to look into the issue, he urged the Centre to address this pressing concern of the States at the earliest. Mr. Panneerselvam also pointed out that former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that in case the amount in the GST compensation fund fell short of the compensation payable in the bi-monthly period, the GST council would decide the mode of raising additional
The Deputy Chief Minister also sought for the speedy clearances of projects.
The T.N. government was yet to receive arrears to the tune of ₹3,369.06 crore towards grants to local bodies, prescribed by the 14th Finance Commission, he said. He also pointed to arrears to the State to the tune of ₹10,100.98 crore, which comprised long-pending dues such as arrear grants related to the 13th Finance Commission and 14th Finance Commission grants to local bodies.
Metro phase II
Mr. Panneerselvam also pointed out that the development of phase-II of Chennai Metro, for a length of 118.9 km at an estimated cost of ₹69,180 crore, was on the anvil. The State had already taken up 52.01 km of phase-II as a ‘State sector’ project, availing JICA assistance.
“The remaining stretches of phase-II have been proposed for multilateral assistance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment,” he said, and requested the Centre to expedite the approval and consider implementing phase-II of the project with equal equity shares, as was done for phase-I of the project.
He also urged the Centre to approve the Godavari-Cauvery linkage project and sought special financial package in the upcoming Union Budget to assist revival of the sugar sector in Tamil Nadu.
Pending grants for regular programmes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Right to Education Act, Flood Management Programme, Post-matric Scholarship Scheme and State Disaster Response Fund, must also be released, he demanded
Mr. Panneerselvam also sought expedited clearances for projects like ‘Extension, Renovation and Modernisation of Grand Anicut Canal System’, ‘Chennai City Traffic Decongestion Project’ and ‘Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Conservation and Greening Project Phase-II’.
