Grants for local bodies be doubled: Punjab Govt

The Punjab government today demanded doubling of grants for local bodies to 3 per cent from 14th Finance Commission which held a series of meeting here with state officials.
"The grants for local bodies for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20 should be doubled from existing 1.5 per cent of divisible pool of taxes to 3 per cent of divisible pool of taxes," said an official spokesman.
The state government also requested the Commission to recommend state specific grants of Rs 1,550 crore for Rural and Urban Local Bodies for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.
The 14th Finance Commission led by Dr Y V Reddy today arrived here. The other members of the Commission were Professor Abhijit Sen, Sushma Nath, Dr M Govinda Rao and Dr Sudipto Mundle.

The state officials during the meeting said that the state had not been getting regular and adequate supply of funds from the Centre for basic amenities in urban areas.
The state representatives asked for Rs 400 crore for setting up suitable civic infrastructure to meet demands for water supply.

For sewerage system and treatment plant, the state requires Rs 1,900 crore, the spokesman said.
State officials requested the Commission that for all basic amenities in the urban areas, at least Rs 10,000 crore is required to be allocated for state.
Moreover, they also demanded a special package for maintenance of the present structure.

They also requested the Commission to recommend grant of Rs 400 crore for Fire Brigade system.
Meanwhile, the state government drew the attention of Commission to the flight of industry from the state due to Centre's policy of giving tax concessions to the industry of the neighbouring states of Punjab.
The representatives of Trade and Industry urged the Commission to provide fiscal incentives on the lines of hilly areas for the development of industry in the state.