Gujarat says Centre not given financial aid for natural disasters amid 'bias' outcry from non-BJP states

The BJP-ruled state government told the Gujarat assembly to a starred question by Congress MLA Arjun Modhwadia that they had demanded ₹152.99 crore during the 2022 monsoon season and again in July 12, 2023, a letter was written to the central government requesting funds to the tune of ₹700.42 crore after Cyclone Bipajoy. However, the state is yet to receive these funds from the Centre, added the government.

The assembly was told that while the heavy rain assistance was not granted by the Central government, and for the cyclone since sufficient balance was available in the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) as of December 31, 2023, no money was allocated.

Cyclone Bipajoy wreaked havoc

Cyclone Bipajoy wreaked havoc on Gujarat last year uprooting trees, destroying standing crops of farmers of the Kutch region, bringing down communication towers and causing extensive financial loss to the state power utility Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited damaging 5,120 electricity poles. The cyclone which made a landfall at a wind speed of 140 kmph had left behind a trail of destruction.

However, according to a Central government press release on December 12, 2023, the Centre had approved financial assistance of ₹338.24 crore to Gujarat because it was severely affected by Cyclone Biparjoy. The Central government had also said that they had already released the first installment of its share, amounting to Rs 584 crore to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

Tamil Nadu: No NDRF funds as yet

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu finance minister recently accused the centre of being “biased” towards “people of Tamil Nadu”. Since the state backed DMK’s Dravidian model of governance, he alleged that the Union government is yet to release the national disaster relief fund (NDRF) for the flood that affected Chennai and some southern districts in December last year. Finance minister Thangam Thennarasu said the Centre has only released the second instalment of the state disaster relief fund (SDRF) as per the Finance Commission recommendations, “giving the impression that it had released huge funds”.

Karnataka: Reduction in state's share in taxes

Karnataka CM has alleged that the state exchequer is suffering losses because Karnataka’s share in the divisible pool of taxes has reduced and for “faulty implementation of GST” at around ₹1.87 lakh crore. The CM also claimed that despite the Union budget’s size doubling between 2016-17 and 2022-23, there had been no marked increase in grants allocated to Karnataka.

Kerala: Centre violating cooperative federalism

While the CPI(M)-led Kerala government has said the BJP-led government is neglecting the state by denying its due share of revenue in violation of principles of cooperative federalism”. Kerala has accused the Centre of “slashing the state’s borrowing limit”, an issue on which it has also moved the Supreme Court.