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Out of total debt raised, ₹27,000 crore went into debt servicing: Punjab FM Cheema
He appealed governor Banwarilal Purohit to help the state government in getting dues of ₹8,145 crore cleared from the Union Government
Reacting to the claims by the opposition parties on the increase in debt load since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government took over in Punjab in March last year, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said that out of total debt raised, ₹27,000 crore were paid as interest for the debt taken by the previous SAD-BJP and Congress governments.
He appealed the governor Banwarilal Purohit to help the state government in getting dues of ₹8,145 crore cleared from the Union Government.
Addressing a press conference here, Cheema gave an account of ₹48,530 crore in response to the debt of ₹47,109 crore raised by Punjab during 18 months, including debt of ₹32,448 crore raised during the fiscal year 2022-23 and ₹14,661 crore from April 1 to August 31.
Out of this, ₹27,106 crore was paid as interest on debt raised by the previous Akali-BJP and Congress-led state governments, he stated.
Apart from spending ₹10,208 crore on capital expenditure, the state government bore the burden of ₹1,148 crore of Punjab State Civil Supplies and Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank to bail out these institutions.
The government also paid ₹2,556 crore to power utility Punjab State Power Corporation Limited for the pending power subsidy of previous governments.
Apart from this, ₹798 crore of Rural Development Fund, ₹1,008 crore of sugarcane farmers, ₹1,750 crore of centrally sponsored schemes were paid, stated the FM.
A sum of ₹4,000 crore was also invested in the “sinking fund” established by the Union government to get loans at affordable rates, said Cheema.
The minister said a total of ₹8,145 crore is pending with the Centre, which includes ₹5,637 crore of RDF, ₹1,857 crore of Special Capital Assistance and ₹651 crore of National Health Mission (NHM).
He said the state has registered an increase of 17% in GST revenue, 44% in excise revenue, 13% in taxes on vehicles, and 3% in revenue from stamp and registration.
The Punjab government has also succeeded in reducing the interest rate on ₹32,000 crore cash credit limit debt extended to Punjab by the previous Akali-BJP government, to 7.35% after negotiating with the Union Government, which saved the state ₹3,500 crore
In response to a query about the Canada-India dispute, he said that not just from Punjab, students from all over India, study in Canada and a number of Indian professionals were also working there. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should resolve this issue at the earliest through talks with the Prime Minister of Canada.
Badal slams AAP govt in Pb for increasing debt
Patiala Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal, on Monday, said that the AAP government was hell-bent on keeping the state under the financial debt.
Badal added that the AAP government — led by CM Bhagwant Mann —has already taken a loan of ₹50,000 crore in just 18 months of forming the government. And, if they (the government) continue to borrow money then the state’s debt would cross over ₹2 lakh crore in the next few years. He opined that the people of Punjab would never be able to repay the loan borrowed by this AAP government.
“The state’s debt to the gross state domestic product ratio (GSDP) is the highest in the country — accounting for nearly 50%. Soon, Punjab will have a similar situation to neighbouring Pakistan,” said Badal while addressing reporters in Patiala.
