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Isaac accuses Vakkom of figure fudging

Special Correspondent

Says Vakkom is contradicting CAG, Plan panel

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPI(M) parliamentary party secretary T.M. Thomas Isaac has accused Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman of figure fudging to make it appear that the UDF Government has transferred more funds than its LDF counterpart to the local bodies.

Dr. Isaac told a news conference here on Wednesday that the Finance Minister's claims about the funds transferred to the local bodies contradicted the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India and the State Planning Board, which meant that he was making false claims. The CAG report for 2003-'04 had clearly stated that the State Government had succeeded in bringing down its revenue deficit during the year by taking back Rs.581 crores given to the local bodies. Since it was clear from the report that this was besides the Rs.335 crores initially taken back and later returned to the local bodies, it could be gathered that the total amount taken back from the local bodies amounted to over Rs.900 crores and the actual amount transferred to the local self-government institutions was much less than what was being claimed by Mr. Purushothaman, he said.

He also pointed out that the figures cited by the Finance Minister at his news conference here on Tuesday were at variance with those put out by the State Planning Board to show that the UDF Government had transferred more funds to the local bodies. While the Planning Board had stated that the UDF had earmarked Rs.4,859 crores and transferred Rs.4,317 crores to the local bodies, the Finance Minister had stated that Rs.4,550 crores were earmarked and Rs.3,901 crores were transferred to the local bodies. This clearly showed that the inferences drawn by both Mr. Purushothaman and the Planning Board were not based on facts.

Noting that the amount earmarked for the local self-government institutions in this year's Plan came to only 25.6 per cent of the total Plan allocation, Dr. Isaac asked the Finance Minister to clarify whether the Government would take steps to raise it to 35 per cent as promised in the UDF election manifesto. He also demanded to know whether the Finance Minister's statement that funds would be released to the local bodies in tune with their utilisation capabilities was not totally contradictory to the promise in the manifesto to release funds on a monthly basis. Further, he asked Mr. Purushothaman whether the UDF Government would be willing at the end of the current financial year to allow the local bodies to use 25 per cent of the total Plan allocation for spill over work as had been done by the LDF in all the five years it was in power. The CPI(M) leader said a proper analysis of the pattern of transfer of funds to the local bodies under the UDF and LDF Governments would show that the UDF gave to the local bodies only one-third of the funds given by the LDF.

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