Cong spreading myths about curtailment of funds by Centre to Uttarakhand: BJP's Koshiyari

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand's former Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari today accused the ruling Congress of "spreading myths" about alleged curtailment of budgetry allocations to the state by the Centre. On the contrary, he said, there has been an increase of Rs 1,734 crore in the funds to be allocated to the state for the ongoing fiscal.

Citing figures provided by the Union Finance Ministry, Koshiyari said Rs 3,792 crore were allocated to Uttarakhand in the year 2014-15 and the amount to be allocated to the state during the current fiscal is Rs 5,526 crore, an increase of Rs 1,734 crore.

"The clamour about curtailment of budgetry allocations to Uttarakhand is thus wholly unfounded and designed to mislead the masses," Koshiyari, who is currently BJP MP from Nainital, told reporters here.

He also pointed out that there has been a substantial increase in funds to be allocated to the state between the year 2015-2020 under recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.

"Under the 13th Finance Commission total funds allocated to Uttarakhand from 2010 to 2015 were Rs 15,965 crore whereas funds to be allocated to the state from 2015-2020 under the 14th Finance Commission are Rs 40,767 crore," he said citing the data provided by the Union Finance Ministry.

However, Koshiyari admitted there has been some reduction in the special grants allocated to the state but attributed it to the state government's "failure" to raise the issue effectively before the NITI Aayog.

"The Centre should not be blamed for curtailment in special grants provided to the state in the past. The onus lies on the state government which failed to raise the issue effectively before the NITI Aayog. They should have cited the unique circumstances of the state and insisted on allocation of special grants on the lines of northeastern states which they did not do," Koshiyari said.

He said the clamour about curtailment of funds to the state is being done as a ploy to divert people's attention from the "state government's own failures."

Led by PCC President Kishore Upadhyay, Congress leaders from Uttarakhand had recently staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest against the Centre's alleged step- motherly treatment of the hill state and curtailment of budgetry allocations to it.