Patna, April 16: Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today demanded at least Rs 20,000 crore from the Union government under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) in the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) period.

Addressing reporters after his weekly janata durbar, Modi said: “We have come to know that the Union government would allocate only Rs 12,000 crore, which is much less than our actual demand.”

He said the Centre had earmarked Rs 57,344 crore under the BRGF head. The state on March 24 demanded a grant of not less than Rs 4,000 crore per annum, setting a target of Rs 20,000 crore in the entire Twelfth Five Year Plan period.

The BRGF is meant for developing infrastructure in backward regions of a state. As a result of its bifurcation, the state suffered on the infrastructure front. A special cell was constituted under deputy chairman of Planning Commission to take care of it.

Modi said Rs 7,250 crore was earmarked for Bihar in the Tenth Five Year Plan for the development of backward regions. It was later revised to Rs 9,156 crore. The state, however, received only Rs 2284.07 crore. Lambasting the Centre for its alleged step-motherly attitude towards the state, Modi said the Centre has been claiming that it would redefine parameters of backwardness of states, while Bihar had not even getting its due share.