Kateel demands State govt. release white paper on Budgetary allocations

Former State president of the BJP, Nalin Kumar Kateel, on Monday demanded that the State government come out with a white paper on the Budget allocations from the Union government to Karnataka.

Former State president of the BJP, Nalin Kumar Kateel, on Monday demanded that the State government come out with a white paper on the Budget allocations from the Union government to Karnataka.

Addressing press persons Mr. Kateel, a former member of Parliament of Dakshina Kannada, said that the State government has been alleging that the Union government is not releasing funds to Karnataka. “Releasing a white paper would clearly reveal the actual funds released by the Union government to the State,” he said.

Responding to the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association’s allegation that the government owed ₹37,370 crore to contractors, and the State government’s claim that the bills could not be cleared due to the Centre’s failure to release its dues, Mr. Kateel said that administrative failure of the State government had led to the non-payment of contractors’ bills.

“Karnataka will soon face a situation where there will be no funds to pay the salaries of government employees. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has presented several Budgets in the past, has failed to assess the State’s income and expenditure before announcing the guarantee schemes. Karnataka is heading towards bankruptcy due to the financial burden of the five guarantee schemes introduced by the Congress government. Yet, Siddaramaiah is trying to blame the Centre. Why has he not responded to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s clarification on tax devolution?” he asked.

Replying to a query on Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s claim that no high-speed train would come to Bengaluru, despite announcements in the Union Budget, citing the impracticality of 50:50 funding projects, Kateel said that the majority of railway projects are implemented on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis. “The state government does not want to implement Centre-led projects and is trying to curtail them,” he alleged.

On the State government’s opposition to the VB-G RAM G Act, Mr. Kateel said the new initiative has increased the number of workdays to 125 and focuses on plugging massive leakages, reducing corruption, and improving the quality of assets created.