Karnataka suffered total loss of Rs 14,87,000 crore in the last five years: CM Siddaramaiah

BENGALURU: Karnataka has received Rs 45,000 crore less in its share of taxes in the last four years, and a total of Rs 62,098 crore less in the last five years from the Centre, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged on Monday.

Addressing the media at Vidhana Soudha, the CM said the 14th Finance Commission had recommended 42 per cent tax share for Karnataka, but the state received only 35 per cent. Similarly, the 15th Finance Commission had recommended 41 per cent for the state, but only the Centre is giving only 30 per cent.

Further, he said that the 15th Finance Commission had recommended Rs 5,495 crore as special grant to the state. “I had advised Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai to take the grant, but Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, rejected it”, the CM claimed.

Under the special grants, Rs 3,000 crore was recommended for the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) and Rs another 3,000 for improving water supply to Bengaluru. “But the Centre did not release a total of Rs 11,495 in special grants to the state”, the CM charged.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also said that the Centre compensated the state for GST losses at the rate of 14 per cent for five years, but stopped it from June 2022. “We sought for further compensation at the GST council meeting, but since BJP CMs are more in number in the council, the Centre did not agree”, he said.

The CM said the state is collecting Rs 4,30,000 crore in taxes, second only after Maharashtra. “Of the tax share for 2023-24, the state is getting Rs 37,252 and Rs 13,005 crore under the Centre’s revised scheme, totalling Rs 50,257 crore. For every Rs 100, the state is getting back only about Rs 12-13 and the rest is with the Centre”, he alleged.

Siddaramaiah said that as the Union Budget outlay is increasing, Karnataka’s share is reducing. “The budget outlay for 2018-19 was Rs 24,42,213 crore and the Centre gave us Rs 46,288 crore. In 2022-23, though the budget outlay was 41,87,232 crore, we got a total of only Rs 53,510 crore from the Centre”, he said.

Siddaramaiah also said the Centre is increasing cess and surcharges every year, but is not passing on the share to the state. “The Centre is pocketing all the money and lying. Aren’t their and out accounts the same? When the Centre’s budget outlay has doubled, shouldn’t the state’s share also double? We will demand our share of the cess and surcharges also”, he said.

The CM said the state has suffered a total loss of Rs 14,87,000 crore over the last five years. “The Centre announced in the budget to allocate Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra project which will irrigate 2.5 lakh hectares, but they haven’t released a single rupee so far. To demand our rightful share, we will stage a protest in Delhi”, he said.

“We have declared 196 taluk a severly drought-affected and a central team visited the state last September. A delegation of our ministers met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi seeking drought relief. I myself met Prime Minister Narendra Moid and Amit Shah in December and presented a memorandum. I even reminded the PM when he visited Bengaluru. We had sought Rs 17,901 crore as per NDRF norms, but one rupee has been released”, he said.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the state had been cooperating with the Centre in the spirit of federalism, but cannot sit back any longer.

“We cannot wait any longer for the Centre to release funds. We are holding the ‘Delhi Chalo’ on February 7 in the interest of the state. I am inviting all the MLA to raise their voice for the state. We will hold a protest at Jantar mantar because we are being pushed to the wall. This is not a protest against the BJP or a political one. This is against the injustice done to the state”, he claimed.