Finance Minister statement excluding Puducherry in Finance panel disappointing, says former MP

M. Ramadass, in a statement, said this stand of the Finance Ministry would worsen the already tottering fiscal system of Puducherry

Former Member of Parliament M. Ramadass has termed as “unfortunate and disheartening” the reply of the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the floor of the Lok Sabha that the Centre had no intention of including Puducherry in the 15th Finance Commission. In a statement, Mr. Ramadass said: “This stand of the Union Finance Ministry would undoubtedly worsen the already tottering fiscal system of Puducherry compelling it to mount its public borrowing, which has already reached unsustainable level. There is no substantive reason for rejecting the long pending demand of Puducherry to be part of Finance Panel recommendations except that it is a Union Territory.”