Himachal seeks 90:10 funding on northeastern states' pattern

Himachal Pradesh has sought a uniform 90:10 funding on the pattern of that for the northeastern states for centrally-funded schemes, an official said.

Under this, 90 percent of the funds are provided by the centre and 10 percent by the state.

At a meeting here with Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said at present there was no uniform pattern of funding and that the money provided was much lower than what the northeastern states received, the official said.

He quoted the chief minister as urging that the necessary directions should be passed to all central ministries and departments to modify the guidelines for existing schemes and adopt uniform norms for all special category states, including Himachal Pradesh.

On revival of the special central industrial package for Himachal, the chief minister said the state has made large investments to improve the basic infrastructure in industrial belts to attract private investment.

Veerbhadra Singh also demanded Rs.2,100 crore special plan assistance for 2013-14.

He told the union minister that the state had suffered a loss of Rs.10,725 crore due to adverse recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission that underestimated the state's committed liabilities on various accounts like salary and pension.