PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) and in charge of Delhi Congress, Qazi Nizamuddin has claimed that the recommendation of the 16th Finance Commission will have an adverse impact on the economy of Uttarakhand. Interacting with the media- persons at the Rajiv Bhawan here on Friday, he said that 16th FC has recommended discontinuation of Revenue Deficit Grant (RDG) for the states. He said that under 15th FC, Uttarakhand received a hefty sum of Rs 28,147 crore in the last five years. Similarly, he claimed that the 16th FC has recommended that the share of States in the revenue should be on the basis of population, Per Capita Income and the area and on all these parameters Uttarakhand will receive much less central grants than it currently receives.
The Congress leader accused the State government of presenting misleading information in the Economic Survey and said that its findings are contradictory to the data released by some of the agencies of the government of India. “ Had there been any substance in the Economic Survey then the chief minister himself would have presented the report in the house during the Budget session of Vidhan Sabha commencing from Monday.’’ He quipped.’
Nizamuddin said as per the report of the Office of Registrar General of Census of Union Home ministry, the sex ratio at berth in Uttarakhand is 868 females per 1000 males which is lowest in the country. He said for an educated society this fact is very alarming. Nizamuddin said that though the State government boasts of having good performance on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) parameters, the fact is that the Air Quality Index (AQI) and quality of drinking water in Dehradun has deteriorated. He added that a recent report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) points out that the biggest problem of Uttarakhand is the high rate of underemployment.
Nizamuddin said that in 2016-17, when the State had Congress government there were 12,601 primary, 2,889 upper primary, 1,100 secondary schools in the State which have now reduced to 11,116, 2503 and 921 respectively. He said that the above data was provided by the State government in response to a question in Lok Sabha. The Congress leader claimed that the expenditure in education, health and development has reduced to only 40 per cent of the spending during the regime of Congress party in the State.
“There were 2,987 factories in the State in 2016 which have now decreased to 2,877. The number of workers in these factories have also reduced. The State is heading for a K shaped economy where the poor are getting poorer while the rich are becoming richer,’’ he said.
