Himachal’s per capita debt over ₹1 lakh: Govt white paper
The chief minister’s claims were met with a huge ruckus from the Opposition benches, who trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans against the government. As the pandemonium continued, Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania adjourned the proceedings till 2pm.
Himachal deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri on Thursday presented a white paper on the financial condition of the state and said that due to the mess created by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation, there is a debt of ₹1,02,818 on each person in the hill state. He added that the present Congress government inherited liabilities to the tune of ₹92,774 crore from the previous government.
The chief minister’s claims were met with a huge ruckus from the Opposition benches, who trooped into the well of the House and raised slogans against the government. As the pandemonium continued, Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania adjourned the proceedings till 2pm.
Agnihotri cited the report of the Reserve Bank for the year 2022-23 and said that Himachal now stands fifth among the small and big countries in terms of taking loans.
The deputy CM said the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dispensation had taken a loan of ₹16,261 crore in the last year of its tenure. “This loan was spent not on development of the state rather on winning elections, though despite this, the BJP did not win the elections. The previous government spent the loan on Amrit Mahotsav, Jan Manch, completion of 75 years of the country’s independence and other similar programmes,” he said.
The minister stated that ₹7 crore was spent on the Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, while ₹8.5 crore spent on the Road Transport Corporation buses for rallies are yet to be paid.
Agnihotri said the previous government announced new pay scales and allowances to the tune of ₹10,600 crore for employees in the election year, but neither was money made available for this nor were the liabilities paid off.
Out of this, ₹10,000 crore is outstanding for pay scales and ₹600 crore for two instalments of dearness allowance. Apart from this, other liabilities of ₹5,544 crore were also not paid by the previous government, he stated. The minister said that because of the wrong policies of the previous government, Himachal has become a debt-ridden state.
The deputy CM said the state has to repay previous debt of a whopping ₹9,048 crore . Out of this, ₹3,486 crore is for repayment of loan while ₹5,262 crore is to be paid as interest. He said that at the end of the year 2017-18, Himachal had a debt of ₹47,906 crore. The previous government took a loan of ₹28,784 crore in five years with an average increase of 12% till the year 2023-24. He said that a white paper has been issued on the financial condition of the state after 25 years. He also accused the former BJP government of financial mismanagement in public sector undertakings and said that 13 out of 23 corporations and boards of the state are facing a loss of ₹5,000 crores. Taking a dig at the opposition’s uproar, he said they don’t want to hear the truth and thus are disrupting proceedings.
