Thiruvananthapuram, May 15: Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today repeated the demand of the State Government to increase its borrowing limit from the current 3% to 5%. “Because of the lockdown, there has been a drastic fall in the revenue collection and to overcome the financial constraints, we need a hike in the borrowing limit. The Central Government has recently increased its borrowing limit to 5.5% but the State’s limit is still at 3%. Despite repeated requests, the Centre has not bothered to increase the borrowing limit. It is not in line with the basic principles of a Federal system”, he said.

The Chief Minister also said there is nothing new in the announcement of the Union Finance Minister’s allocation of more money to the states for the welfare of workers working in other states. The amount allocated to the Disaster Relief Fund is just a share of the Centre. The 15th Finance Commission had allocated a central share of Rs 314 crores to Kerala but the State has only half of it, Rs 157 crores.

“We have asked the Prime Minister to allow special grants to the states in the context of Covid situation and make this an additional consideration for inclusion in the Second Report of the 15th Finance Commission. It is inappropriate to portray the central contribution to the Disaster Relief Fund as help for Covid19 prevention”, he added.

From the Disaster Relief Fund, the State Government has already given Rs.17 crores to District Collectors for relief work and Rs.15 crores to the Health Department for buying medical equipment. As per the norms, only 25% of the state’s outlay can be spent on relief work and 10% on purchasing equipment. Only this much can be used from SDRF amount. The state is using budgetary amounts to distribute welfare pensions.