AGARTALA, Jan 21 � Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made it clear that the Centre would do justice to Tripura if the 13th Finance Commission had committed any �mistake� in fixing the State�s committed expenditure.
Talking to reporters here today, Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury said that he had a meeting with the Union Finance Minister in New Delhi on January 18 and briefed him about the State�s fragile financial condition.
�The Union Finance Minister had given a patience hearing on our points and assured of compensation if the 13th Finance Commission had made any errors in calculating committed expenditure for salary and pension�, he said.
Mukherjee had maintained the Centre can do nothing beyond the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission as the Parliament had given its nod to the finance panel�s recommendations, he said.
According to Chowdhury, the recommendations of 13th Finance Commission have created a shortfall of Rs 6196.53 crore and Rs 1165.71 crore on account of salary and pension expenditures respectively.
Asserting that the shortfall would be Rs 7362.24 crore by end of 13th Finance Commission award period, Chowdhury also said that the Financial Panel had committed wrong calculation in determining expenditure for salary and pension heads.
Chowdhury also made the Union Finance Minister aware of the upper limit of Open Market Borrowing system. He mentioned that the Planning Commission had approved Rs 367 crore as loan but the Finance Ministry denied the State of having it fully. �The Ministry has said only Rs 100 crore can be collected by Open Market Borrowing system�, he informed the Union Minister.
Chowdhury, however, admitted that the State Government would have to divert plan outlay to meet the expenditure for salary and pension of the about one lakh State Government employees. He claimed that Government employees and pensioners don�t need get panicked as the government will release salary and pension in time.
