Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for an early release of pending dues to the tune of ₹20,860.40 crore to the State.
The pending dues include ₹2,109.08 crore for Sarva Shiksha Abiyan; ₹1,092.22 crore for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (including spill over approved for 2015-16 & 2016-17); ₹2,203.25 crore for custom-milled rice subsidy and ₹13,504.74 crore in GST compensation arrears, Stalin said in a memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister in the national capital.
The Tamil Nadu government is facing severe financial stress as the revenues have been badly affected due to the pandemic. The pandemic necessitated the State to incur additional expenditure for upgrading health infrastructure, medical equipment, drugs and also implement welfare schemes for the vulnerable sections of the populace, the Chief Minister said.
Further, Stalin urged the Finance Minister for the release of balance basic as well as performance grants under Local Body Grant recommended by the 14th Finance Commission.
The 14th Finance Commission recommended a grant of ₹2,524.20 crore as performance grant to Tamil Nadu from 2016-17 to 2019-20. The Centre had released ₹494.99 crore for 2016-17 for which the utilisation certificates have been furnished with a request to release the grant for 2017-18.
Despite compliance of the conditions and furnishing of utilisation certificates, the grant for 2017-18 has not been released. Subsequently, the grant for 2018-19 and 2019-20 have also not been released.
“We urge that the balance basic grant of ₹548.76 crore and performance grant of ₹2,029.22 crore be released to Tamil Nadu at the earliest,” said Stalin.
The Chief Minister also requested the Finance Minister to extend the GST compensation period in view of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.
“We urge the Union Government to extend the period of compensation by at least two years beyond June 2022,” Stalin said.
The five-year GST compensation period is coming to an end in June 2022.