LUDHIANA, May 16: Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today said the Akali-BJP Government had pushed Punjab into a vicious debt trap and ridiculed the state Government for describing it as a productive debt.
‘It is a cause of serious concern as the state is dangerously heading towards bankruptcy,’ he warned.
He was addressing a series of public meetings in support of party candidates contesting Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections in Gill assembly segment here.
Mr Tewari pointed out that the state debt according to its own Finance Minister was likely to cross Rs 1 lakh crore by the end of this financial year and it was continuously increasing at an alarming rate.
‘May I ask the Punjab Government what is productive about this debt?’ he asked. Only productive thing about this debt was that it was multiplying every year and taking Punjab closer to the bankruptcy.
The Minister revealed that every year the Akali Government was borrowing over Rs 13,600 crore. Of which, Rs 7600 crore was paid as an interest, while Rs 4000 crore was paid to repay the borrowed amount.
‘It is a unique case where the state is borrowing money to pay the debt and interest and not for any development works,’ he pointed out.
Quoting the 2013 Punjab budget figures, he said, while the fiscal debt till March 31, 2013 was Rs 86,453 crore, it was to go to Rs 95,670 crore by March 31, 2014.
Given the rate at which the state is borrowing, by the end of the term of this government the total debt would cross Rs 1.50 lakh crore which would be impossible to be paid by any government, he remarked, adding that this all was leading the state into bankruptcy.
Mr Tewari, who represents Ludhiana parliamentary segment and is the first Union Cabinet minister since Independence from Ludhiana, said the results of this financial mess were obvious as there was no development worth its name on the ground level.
‘Any development that is showing up is carried out on the grants given by the Central Government under various flagship programmes’, he said. (UNI)
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