Vijayawada: When Mr Ajay Kallam was principal finance secretary, the department had three principal secretaries to take care of different functions. Now, Mr M. Ravichandra is the only bureaucrat dealing with both state and Central subjects. The absence of senior bureaucrats in the finance department is either causing delays or resulting in non-cooperation from the Centre, and this is landing the state government in financial troubles.
Despite the repeated efforts of Mr Ravichandra to explain to the Centre why it should release the state’s share of Central funds, it is felt that some political pressure should be exerted to secure the money. A bureaucrat in New Delhi acknowledged that it was not the case only with Andhra Pradesh. “Finance secretaries from BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, and Maharastra and a non-BJP ruled state — Odisha — are also feeling the heat,” he said. West Bengal is the worst-hit state in that aspect, he added. “The Centre is looking at the states and their claims in an objectionable way and this is really humiliating,” he said.
The bureaucrat asked why the Centre was non-committal on releasing statistics related to the collection of Krishi Kalyan cess, education cess and Swachh Bharat cess, and wondered how these funds are being spent. “It is a fact that by keeping the cess funds with them, the Centre wants to show a healthy fiscal deficit,” he said. Keeping in mind the various difficulties in getting its share, the state government has to deploy a senior politician in New Delhi, to have constant dialogue with the Centre for the release of funds, he suggested.
