SAD, Cong seeks more revenue share for Punjab

Congress delegates, led by former cabinet minister Vijay Inder Singla, submitted a charter of demands to the visiting 16th Finance Commission on Monday.

Congress delegates, led by former cabinet minister Vijay Inder Singla, submitted a charter of demands to the visiting 16th Finance Commission on Monday. The party stated that the focus was long-term financial stability of the state exchequer.

Congress delegates, led by former cabinet minister Vijay Inder Singla, submitted a charter of demands to the visiting 16th Finance Commission on Monday. (HT File)

Singla, who along with ex-MLA Kuldip Singh Vaid and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Hardip Singh Kingra, met the finance panel, stated, “The successive finance commissions from 2000-01 to 2020-21 have raised the collective share of all the states in central tax revenues from 29.5% to 42%. We request the 16th Finance Commission to raise it to 50% as many new sources of revenue come to the Central government with GST in operation. Many revenue sources for the states have got subsumed in the GST regime.”

“Over the years, the Central government has increased its collection through various cesses, thereby depriving states of their legitimate share in the revenue. We request the commission to make these cesses shareable with states,” the delegation stated.

The delegation has also requested the commission to add non-tax revenue, like royalty fee and spectrum charges from various service providers collected by Central government, to the divisible pool.

The delegation also presented a demand for additional grant of ₹10,000 crore for these agriculture and allied activities.

Modify formula for devolution of taxes: SAD

Chandigarh The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday appealed to the 16th finance commission to modify the formula adopted for devolution of taxes to the states. The opposition party also sought allocation of funds to facilitate crop diversification, instituting a debt waiver for state farmers, fixing a regular grant for compensating border farmers, tax concessions for promoting industry and release of dues of rural development fund (RDF).

Senior SAD leaders Maheshinder Singh Grewal and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema participated in the 16th Finance Commission meeting. Cheema said public debt in Punjab had reached an alarming figure of ₹3.43 lakh crore and that a debt-to-GSDP (gross state domestic product) ratio of 49% left negligible funds for capital expenditure. HTC