NEW DELHI, May 6 ? Hit by the Eleventh Finance Commission (EFC) awards, the Assam Government has decided to seek compensation from the Union Finance Ministry for landing the State in serious financial mess. ?Assam Government is not going to ask for reopening of the EFC but we expect the Central Government to compensate us for injustice done to us,? Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.
?Delhi cannot allow this to happen to Assam, and has to come up with a compensation package,? he said, adding that he was aware that the Central Government was not in a position to reopen the EFC. The Chief Minister has in mind Rs 1000 crore as the compensation amount, which he pointed out was due to Assam if the EFC had not erred in its calculations. Now that the Central Government itself has conceded that the EFC has erred, so Assam should be adequately compensated, he argued. The Chief Minister also blasted the previous AGP regime for not taking up the issue then. In fact, the Government then did not even realise that the EFC had erred.
?How can EFC slash the award to Rs 110 crore when the Tenth Finance Commission had awarded over Rs 700 crore,? he asked. Gogoi said he has been raising the issue in each and every meeting with the Central Government, untill the Centre admitted that Assam Government was denied its legitimate due. ?We are waiting for the Parliament to pass the Finance Bill after which we will again take up the issue with the Prime Minister and Union Finance Ministry pleading for expediting the payment of compensation to the State,? he said. If the Centre agrees to our demand and sanction the compensation then the chronic payment crisis should ease for a while, Gogoi added.
The all-party delegation that called on the Central leaders last week petitioned the Prime Minister, Union Finance Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission on the issue. Instead of recommending substantially higher non-plan revenue grants to the State to meet the widening gap in the non-plan revenue account, the Commission has slashed the grant to a meagre Rs 110.68 crore for the entire award period of 2002-2005, as compared to the Rs 712.03 crore awarded by the EFC for the period of 1995-2000. That Assam has been left in the lurch by the EFC is reflected by the fact that the award of EFC in respect of the State constitutes only 3.05 per cent of the total transfer from the Centre to all States. On the other hand, the State?s share in total transfer in the awards in the Ninth and Tenth Finance Commission constituted 3.73 per cent and 3.67 per cent, respectively, it was further pointed out.