16th Finance Commission team arriving in Tripura on January 29, state administration in preparatory mode

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, January 21, 2025

The team of the 16th finance commission constituted by Centre under the stewardship of eminent economist Arvind Panagariya as chairman is arriving at Agartala on January 29 to hold meetings with the officials of various departments of the state government, Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). Official sources said that the 16th finance commission comprising-apart from chairman Arvind Panagariya-Ajay Narayan Jha, Annie George, Niranjan Rajadhyaksha and Soumya Kanti Ghosh has already notified its scheduled arrival on January 29 to assess the non-plan fund requirements of the state government for the next five years.

Sources said that the chief secretary J.K.Sinha has already held meetings with departmental secretaries over the state’s demands for non-plan funds for the next five years, asking them to prepare the demands as well as accounting details. Similarly the TTAADC authority as well as the AMC and municipal authorities have also been instructed to prepare their detailed memoranda which will be included in the state’s overall memorandum to the finance commission.

What however has emerged as a problem is that the state government is yet to clear dues of the employees in terms of DA payments and upgradation of overall pay . The finance commission generally reimburses the committed expenditures of the states, specially in backward northeast , already incurred in paying DA , general pay and allowances . There is no system of sanctioning proposed expenditures by the finance commission and, given this position, the state must sanction outstanding DA amounts and other dues of the employees to have this reimbursed by the finance commission. This mistake was made by previous left front government also as , without actually paying the pending dues the left front had asked for additional funds which was never reimbursed. Sources said that all valid expenses on employees and pensioners must be made before the finance commission prepares its full report with final recommendations to Centre. But the matter is as yet undecided.