Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said they were yet to receive ₹15,502 crore in the goods and services tax (GST) compensation from the Central government. Pawar, who also holds the finance portfolio, said the amount was an accumulation over the past three years — 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22.

The Centre on Tuesday released ₹86,912 crore to the state governments, clearing all the GST compensation dues till May 31, 2022, the union ministry of finance said. Of this, Maharashtra’s share was ₹14,145 crore.

“The outstanding dues under GST compensation pending with the Centre stood at ₹29,647 crore of which we got ₹14,145 crore. The balance amount of ₹15,502 crore is still pending with the Central government. It was promised by the Centre to compensate the states for the revenue loss resulting from the abolition of all the remaining taxes,” Pawar said after his weekly Janata Darbar at the Nationalist Congress Party headquarters in Ballard Pier.

Giving a break-up, he said, ₹1,029 crore was pending from the 2019-20 financial years, ₹6,470 crore from 2020-21, and ₹8,003 crore from 2021-22. “We are following up the matter with the Centre so that the state can get the outstanding amount at the earliest which can be used for development works.”

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government has been complaining of delays in the release of the GST compensation dues by the Centre. In April, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said the state had been getting stepmotherly treatment despite being the highest contributor of direct taxes and the GST. In response, leader of the opposition Devendra Fadnavis said it had become a fashion to accuse the Centre without ascertaining the facts. The funds allocated under the GST to Maharashtra had increased in the last three years, he said.