Quantum of Central aid disappointing, says former MP

Centre has taken the Union Territory for granted: M. Ramadass

Former Member of Parliament M. Ramadass on Saturday said the announcement of Union Minister of State for Finance in the Lok Sabha that Puducherry would be granted Central assistance of ₹1,724.77 crore during the current financial year as compared to that of ₹1,698 crore in the last fiscal was “disappointing.” Mr. Ramadass, in a statement, said the quantum increase of ₹26.77 crore was “disappointing, unjustified and unacceptable”. “The Centre has taken the Union Territory for granted and no norm, leave alone scientific principles, had been adopted to decide the quantum of assistance. There is brazen violation of the celebrated cannons of fiscal devolution. The rudimentary test of soundness of assistance is that the current year assistance should at least be more than that of the previous year,” he said. As per the statement given by the Minister in the Lok Sabha, the increase in allocation last fiscal was ₹159 crore and 10.26% of the previous year. Now, the increase in allocation had been reduced to ₹26.77 crore. The annual inflation rate was about 6% and the population rate of the region was 2.2% per annum and the rate of assistance this year (1.58%) is less than both rates, Mr. Ramadass said.