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Spend more and claim Central assistance for natural calamities
By O J George
We should find proper ambience to fetch more assistance from the Centre to deal with disasters, natural calamities and the fury of the elements.
Often what happens is we blame the Centre and its team which tour the state for assessing the damages for getting nothing.
The Central ministers and the Central team members are guided by the norms prescribed by the finance commission.
The states have been given a permanent allocation from the National Contingency and Calamity Fund for dealing with disasters and fury of the elements.
When the Centre looks at the amount given to the states, it always happens that the funds would still be remaining unspent in the account.
Often, this is a technical surplus. The settlement of accounts is reckoned on the basis of utilisation certificates. Such certificates would be issued by the local fund audit or AG after lapse of much time. Till then, even the amount spent would remain technically unspent.
This technical surplus fund availability is being bandied about by the officials before the Central ministers.
There is another problem in the states. The officials follow the guidelines in letter and spirit. There appears to be a direction to the effect that there should be a percentage of the fund kept as unspent balance. The officials do not have the courage to go overboard.
It is here that the State cabinet can take bold decisions. Spend as much money as it can possibly garner from various sources and convince the Centre and its team that the losses are grave.
Usually the State finance minister would be tardy in issuing largesse to deal with any eventuality. The minimal norm is the golden rule for the finance ministers and their officials.
Surplus funds are aplenty in co-operative banks. Take those funds out temporarily and compensate for the losses in disasters and natural calamities. If we overspend, the Centre cannot deny more funds.The Centre will not give anything if the state has funds in the account.
There can be a spirited movement to put pressure on the finance commissions from time to time to rewrite the unrealistic norms. Kerala’s peculiarities, terrain dangers, need for special schemes etc should be highlighted in practicable terms.
This time, the state has demanded grant of Rs 269 crore as Central assistance. The state government has granted an additional amount of Rs 25 crore lately, Revenue Minister K.P.Rajendran has pointed out.
There is a conducive atmosphere at the Centre for securing assistance, if Kerala goes about the task diligently.
Often what happens is we blame the Centre and its team which tour the state for assessing the damages for getting nothing.
The Central ministers and the Central team members are guided by the norms prescribed by the finance commission.
The states have been given a permanent allocation from the National Contingency and Calamity Fund for dealing with disasters and fury of the elements.
When the Centre looks at the amount given to the states, it always happens that the funds would still be remaining unspent in the account.
Often, this is a technical surplus. The settlement of accounts is reckoned on the basis of utilisation certificates. Such certificates would be issued by the local fund audit or AG after lapse of much time. Till then, even the amount spent would remain technically unspent.
This technical surplus fund availability is being bandied about by the officials before the Central ministers.
There is another problem in the states. The officials follow the guidelines in letter and spirit. There appears to be a direction to the effect that there should be a percentage of the fund kept as unspent balance. The officials do not have the courage to go overboard.
It is here that the State cabinet can take bold decisions. Spend as much money as it can possibly garner from various sources and convince the Centre and its team that the losses are grave.
Usually the State finance minister would be tardy in issuing largesse to deal with any eventuality. The minimal norm is the golden rule for the finance ministers and their officials.
Surplus funds are aplenty in co-operative banks. Take those funds out temporarily and compensate for the losses in disasters and natural calamities. If we overspend, the Centre cannot deny more funds.The Centre will not give anything if the state has funds in the account.
There can be a spirited movement to put pressure on the finance commissions from time to time to rewrite the unrealistic norms. Kerala’s peculiarities, terrain dangers, need for special schemes etc should be highlighted in practicable terms.
This time, the state has demanded grant of Rs 269 crore as Central assistance. The state government has granted an additional amount of Rs 25 crore lately, Revenue Minister K.P.Rajendran has pointed out.
There is a conducive atmosphere at the Centre for securing assistance, if Kerala goes about the task diligently.
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