The Karnataka government has been facing renewed internal pressure from its legislators and ministers, who have once again urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to re-examine the flagship guarantee schemes ahead of the March 6 state budget.
The Congress leaders have also asked Siddaramaiah to consider “riders" or “restrictions" on ensuring only BPL samplers avail the guarantees so that the state—which is under heavy financial strain—can find some relief and funds can be diverted to constituencies for development.
To fund the guarantees, the state has attempted to raise additional revenue through a series of measures, including increases in bus fares, fuel prices, stamp duty, property guidance values, liquor prices and vehicle cess. Proposals have also been floated to revise water tariffs, milk prices and transport fares. The government introduced a mineral rights tax and a one-time settlement scheme as well, though these have yielded limited returns.
However, according to the Karnataka chief minister’s economic adviser Basavaraj Rayareddy, “if you want development and welfare, prices will increase". Speaking to News18, Rayareddy said: “Those who have money must pay taxes. If you compare with other countries, they provide more welfare and collect more taxes. In that sense, we are still moderate. Development work is going on in Karnataka."
Concerns over the guarantee schemes’ impact on development spending have had ministers and MLAs complaining about shrinking funds for constituency projects. Siddaramaiah, however, ruled out scrapping the guarantees.
It is learnt that close to 25 legislators and a few ministers in the Siddaramaiah cabinet have expressed the view that the benefits should be restricted to economically weaker sections to ease the mounting fiscal burden.
Rayareddy said, “Yes, we agree that some APL families, government employees and even income-tax payers are benefiting from the schemes. Sometimes this happens. Let us see what has to be done regarding APL families and better-off sections. No decision has been taken yet in the budget," he said.
Asked if eligibility checks will be part of the upcoming budget exercise, he said the matter would be decided on the ‘party platform’. The issue has repeatedly surfaced in Congress legislature party meetings.
The state economic adviser squarely blamed the state’s financial burden on the previous BJP and JDS regime, saying that when Basavaraj Bommai was chief minister, works worth about Rs 2.42 lakh crore were approved without adequate budgetary provision. Of this, he said, only around Rs 42,000 crore had been allocated, forcing the present government to continue paying over Rs 2,000 crore for those commitments since the Congress came to power.
Rayareddy told News18 that the legacy burden, and not the guarantees alone, had created much of the financial strain.
Source: Politics News in news18.com, Politics Latest News, Politics News
