Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday reiterated his allegation that the Union Finance Ministert Nirmala Sitharaman was trying to mislead people on allocation of fund to the state.
Speaking to media persons at Tirur in the Malappuram district on the sidelines of the Nava Kerala Sadas, Vijayan alleged that the Union government had been preventing all means that bring money to Kerala. It is financially strangulating the state by denying funds eligible to the state.
“The Centre is blocking all revenue streams of the state and was turning away from its legitimate demands as punishment for Kerala leading in all indices of social development,” he said.
The chief minister asked the Centre government not to punish a state for its social advancements. “Social advancements should not be a burden or punishment for a state,” he added.
Vijayan alleged besides cutting down the borrowing capacity of the state, the Union government ended the GST compensation despite requests to continue the same for a few more years.
Reacting to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that there was no default on the part of Centre government in allotting funds to Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday that the Union minister was misrepresenting the facts and that the Centre had withheld the welfare pension for three and a half years.
The chief minister said the Union finance minister claimed that 34,714 crore grants has been allocated to Kerala. This is not generosity and is the share that Kerala has to get, he added.
While replying to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that “not one rupee” due to the state government being held by the Centre, CM Vijayan on Sunday said the state government has to get Rs 750 crore from the Union government as part of the UGC salary revision of university and college teachers.
“By March 31, 2022, we informed the Union government that this money has been disbursed. We have to get (50 per cent of) the disbursed money,” he said while speaking at Mukkam in Kozhikode.
“Officials of the State government held talks with the officials of the Union government. But the arrears have not been settled,” he said.
On Saturday, while speaking at a function Nirmala Sitharaman specifically touched on the pay revision arrears of teachers of higher education institutions in Kerala .
“On the issue regarding 7th UGC pay revision, the Ministry of Education has informed that the Scheme of 50 per cent Central share (7th CPC), through reimbursement was given to those state governments who adopted and implemented the revised pay scales as per the 7th CPC, subject to fulfilment of all the conditions laid down in the scheme and submission of the complete proposal as per the guidelines on or before 31st March, 2022,” Nirmala Seetharaman said “The Kerala government didn’t fulfil the requisite conditions, hence the funds couldn’t be released,” she added.
It has been reported that that the state government had not released the arrears of the 7th UGC pay revision, as claimed by the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan . As the Union government’s financial assistance to bear 50 per cent of the total commitment towards UGC pay revision is a reimbursement, the state government has to give an undertaking saying it( state government) has released the said amount to teachers as payment of arrears. But Kerala’s additional chief secretary Venu V gave an undertaking saying the state government has decided to release Rs 1501.60 crore to the teachers of state universities and colleges as payment of arrears. This could be the reason why Union Finance Minister Sitharaman said on Saturday that “the Kerala government didn’t fulfil the requisite conditions, hence the funds couldn’t be released”.
It learnt that the Kerala government did not disburse 7th Pay revision arrears to university and college teachers as claimed by the chief minister. The Union government closed the financial assistance scheme on March 31, 2022 resulting in around 10,000 teachers of colleges and universities in Kerala likely to lose around 1,500 crore of their arrears because the state government did not clear the dues in time.