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Incomplete picture in White Paper: Gogoi

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 4 - Former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today said that the White Paper on State Finances has presented an �incomplete� picture and claimed that his government achieved a lot in strengthening Assam�s financial condition during its decade and half in power.

Addressing a press conference here, Gogoi said the document, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly by Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma yesterday, has failed to provide the complete picture.

He said that while the White Paper has spoken about the new State government inheriting a committed outstanding liability of over Rs 10,000 crore from its predecessor, there has been no mention regarding the dues owed by the Centre to the State as well as funds that has been allocated by the Centre but not yet released to Dispur.

�There is no mention about the amounts recommended by the Finance Commission and how much has been released. The White Paper does not mention how much money the State is yet to receive from various ministries,� Gogoi said.

He admitted that the allocation from taxes to Assam has gone up following the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission but added that this is true of all the States as the State�s share of taxes has gone up from 32 per cent to 42 per cent.

Gogoi said the White Paper is silent on issues like withdrawal of the Special Category State status and cut in funding to various Centrally-funded welfare schemes. He said the State has lost a huge amount of assistance on account of withdrawal of the Special Category State status.

He said liabilities rose due to change in funding patterns of various schemes.

�When we came to power in 2001, what did we inherit? Overdraft,� Gogoi argued.

He said that the total liability of the State is around Rs 35,000 crore. �All States have liabilities. Gujarat has liability worth Rs 2,00,000 crore. Even the Central Government borrows from international agencies. Our State Government received funding from multilateral agencies due to our good performance. If there was mismanagement during our government, how is it that Assam�s GSDP improved considerably, along with per capita income?� he said.

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