Haryana for more resources to states

The state has also urged the Centre to consider possibility of release of funds to Panchayati Raj institutions in one annual instalment instead of two at present, to make the size of release substantial for each such institution.

The point was made by State Finance Minister Harmohinder Singh Chattha, while submitting a pre-Budget memorandum to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram here today.

He also said fiscally well-managed states like Haryana should be rewarded by giving higher weightage to the criteria of fiscal management, revenue generation measures and tax collection efficiency.

Suggesting measures to further improve the coverage and implementation of MGNREGS, Chattha said personnel and technical support needs to be strengthened at the gram panchayat level for its better implementation.

He said the limit of the administrative expenditure should be increased from the present six per cent to 10 per cent.

Keeping in view rise in cost of raw materials, the Haryana minister, said limit of allocation for material component, including for semi-skilled and skilled wages, should be enhanced to at least 50 per cent.

He said the declining tax resources of states are woefully inadequate to meet the increasing development requirements.

"The ways and means advances have remained almost unchanged since April 1, 2006. It is proposed that these facilities should be revised immediately and should be linked with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to be revised automatically twice a year," he said. (More)