Uproot mafias to plug revenue leak: AAP to govt

Chandigarh Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Aman Kumar Arora on Monday urged finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal to plug the revenue leakage and plan beyond two years when the goods and services tax (GST) compensation given by the Centre to states will cease.

Alleging massive leakage in state revenues due to corruption and patronage provided to mining, liquor, transport and power mafias, the AAP MLA, in a letter to the finance minister, wrote that if the state’s fiscal health was in the red with a delay in compensation worth merely Rs 4,100 crore, how it would survive after two years.

He said that being the custodian of the state exchequer, the finance minister should prevail upon the government to become sensitive towards the fiscal health of the state and uproot these mafias which alone can annually mop up additional revenue of around Rs 25,000 crore for the state exchequer.