Fiscal Power

Patna, Jan. 6: The Centre today doubled the funds allocation for Bihar to Rs 2,000 crore for the current fiscal but failed to please the NDA government in the state, pushing for a special status.

The increase in central allocation would enable the state government to spend extra Rs 1,000 crore on power, roads and irrigation this fiscal. But the Bihar NDA leaders made it clear that nothing less than a special state status would satisfy them.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has been demanding the special status for Bihar for the past five years.

Slamming the Centre for neglecting the state, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today told The Telegraph: “Giving a special package is not going to help the state. We want a special status. We do not get adequate funds like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.” He added, “When the Centre provides money to the states, it should let the states decide what is good for them. Once we get the funds, we should be allowed to take our decisions, choose our programmes and schemes. The Bihar government wants to work in an atmosphere created by it,” said Modi.

JD (U) chief spokesperson Sanjay Singh also lashed out at the Congress after the Centre announced that the funds for Bihar would be doubled in the current fiscal year. “Instead of giving a special status to the state the Centre is giving a special package. This is not going to please the people of Bihar. We sought greater central assistance,” he said, stressing that the help of the Union government was “too trivial”. Singh said: “The Centre has kept ignoring Bihar. In 2007, the state government had demanded Rs 17,059 crore for the rehabilitation of disaster victims. We received a meagre Rs 1,010 crore. The state arranged for Rs 14,800 crore. The central government has not sanctioned money for the rehabilitation of the Kosi flood victims. Bihar government had to take a loan from the World Bank to rehabilitate them.”

Singh told The Telegraph: “Bihar is now considered as one of the most favoured states for investment. For the first time in 20 years, business organisations are coming back. Factories are being set up and people are willing to return to their state. This trend has been seen in the past five years after Nitish came to power.”

If Bihar is accorded special status on the lines of hilly states, investors would get tax holidays for projects in the state. Singh pointed out that investments in the state were negligible during the RJD regime. “Before Nitish’s regime, there were almost no investments in the state. The Centre had turned its back and Bihar was labelled as one of the most backward states in the country. Bihar, once modelled as one of the most forward and progressive states, was reduced to a pitiable state. The five years of the Nitish regime has changed that. Today, Bihar is again seen as a progressive state with hardworking people,” he said.