Bihar to ask for more funds from 15th Finance Commission, also wants Centre to bear 'all disaster management expenses'

Patna: The Bihar government will urge the 15th Finance Commission to raise the allocation of tax revenue shared by the states on the pattern of the 11th Finance Commission recommendations, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said. It will also demand that henceforth the entire expenditure for disaster management in Bihar be borne by the Centre, he said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_4560511” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Sushil Kumar Modi. PTI[/caption] A team of the 15th Finance Commission, led by its chairman NK Singh, will be on a three-day tour of Bihar from 10 July. Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the finance portfolio, said in the statement on Wednesday, “The 11th Finance Commission had fixed allocation of 12.58 percent of the tax revenue shared by the states to Bihar, which was slashed to 9.6 percent by the 14th Finance Commission.” The Bihar deputy chief minister also alleged that the 14th Finance Commission had “allocated Rs 2,591 crore for Bihar for disaster management, though the outlay for states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan was much higher at Rs 8,195 crore and Rs 6,094 crore respectively.” “This was despite the fact that we face both droughts and floods throughout the states. The floods last year involved an expenditure of about Rs 5,000 crore. We would demand that henceforth the entire expenditure for disaster management in Bihar be borne by the Centre”. The state government, he said, will submit a memorandum and make a presentation before the team on 12 July. The state government will also discuss various schemes under the agricultural road map and seven resolutions of CM Nitish Kumar with the visiting team, he added. During the three-day visit, the commission members will have meetings with the state ministers, political parties, panchayati raj organizations, urban local bodies, and representatives of industry and trade.