FM tunes in to Voice of CMs

CHANDIGARH: Union finance minister P Chidambaram has gone a step ahead. Instead of taking wish-lists from states for the Union Budget, the finance minister will hold pre-Budget parleys with state chief ministers or finance ministers.

The date for big-ticket consultations is yet to be finalised.

Last December, revenue secretary K M Chandrashekar wrote to chief secretaries of all states seeking Budget inputs. The consultation process was reckoned as a trendsetter in involving states in fiscal planning.

This will be the first time states getting a say in the Union Budget-making process.

“The long-pending demand of states for a pre-Budget session was raised in the recent empowered committee meet of state finance ministers,� according to the Punjab finance minister Surinder Singla.

Mr Singla, along with his counterparts from Assam and Tamil Nadu, voiced the issue and suggested that such a meeting would be a meaningful departure from the past.

Talking to ET here today, Mr Singla said Mr Chidambaram was amenable to the suggestion and now a date needed to be set for holding such a meeting in New Delhi.

The meeting would give chief ministers a chance to air regional issues for Budget consideration, he said.

Mr Singla said should the meeting be confirmed shortly, this would set a precedent.

“This has never happened before and I feel that each state has its own problems, advantages and disadvantages, and all pros and cons need to be weighed so that the Union Budget is just and fair to all,� he said.

Pointing out that Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Punjab were the top three states in textiles, Mr Singla said their problems were similar but each state has to look after its own interest.

“Punjab is landlocked and far from ports. Therefore, we need freight subsidy to remain competitive in exports.�

Similarly, one state may be rich in agriculture and may require credit in tech-savvy marketing network whereas another may need more irrigation facilities.