TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has requested the Narendra Modi-led Union government to review funding for developed States such as Goa under the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula, which lays emphasis on population as a major component for funding, besides other criteria.
Addressing the media at the State Secretariat on Monday, after his return from the chief ministers’ conference at Delhi last weekend, Parsekar said he has instead suggested that Goa should be allocated a lumpsum amount for executing different developmental works on an annual basis.
“It (Gadgil-Mukherjee formula) is disadvantageous for a State such as Goa. I have suggested to the Centre that we should be given centrally sponsored scheme on annual block grant basis,” he said.
Responding to a question, Parsekar explained that the central schemes for various projects are designed keeping in mind the requirement of their respective States. “If a Union minister hails from Bihar, he will think from the viewpoint of his own State and this design, is certainly of no help to smaller States such as Goa,” he added.
Parsekar went on to mention that benefits of schemes such as the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana cannot be extended to Goa in the wake of limitations required to qualify for these grants.
Saluting Modi’s move to meet chief ministers, Parsekar said the Centre thinks from perspective of the States because the country is headed by a politician who was a chief minister. Parsekar claimed that Modi has been continuously working for the upgradation of Goa.
