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Congress accuses HP govt of hiding state’s financial condition
The opposition Congress along with lone CPI(M) legislator Rakesh Singha on Saturday staged a walkout from the assembly accusing the ruling government of hiding state’s
The opposition Congress along with lone CPI(M) legislator Rakesh Singha on Saturday staged a walkout from the assembly accusing the ruling government of hiding state’s financial condition.
Leader of opposition Mukesh Agnihotri said the government was not giving information on loans raised by it and provided data of the debt taken during the previous Congress government regime.
He alleged that the government did not have any strategy to generate resources. “The state is not getting any funds from the Centre and the HP government has failed in getting loan wavier from the finance commission,” he said.
During a discussion on the Budget, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur had said the government has prepared the Budget keeping in mind the state’s financial condition.
Thakur said when his government came to power on December 27, 2017, the state was under a debt of ₹47,906 crore. He said an amount of ₹6,442 crore is still required for repayment of loan interest by March 31, 2020.
The chief minister said the previous Congress government took nearly three times loan during 2012-17 as compared to that of PK Dhumal led BJP government from 2007-2012. He said the previous BJP government had taken a total loan of ₹7,456 crore from 2007-2012, whereas Virbhadra Singh led previous Congress government borrowed ₹19,195 crores from 2012-17.
He said that till March 11, the state has received financial assistance of ₹30524 crore from the Centre.
Speaking on the issue of unemployment, Thakur said the government has introduced Mukhyamantri Swavalamban Yojana and Skill Development Allowance Scheme that aims at providing allowance to educated unemployed youth for their skill upgradation.
“Better healthcare facilities are being provided to the people here. As many as 68,222 people have benefited from Himcare scheme by spending ₹65 crore,” Thakur said.
He said that people were also benefitting from Ayushman Bharat and Sahara scheme. “Whereas during the Congress regime only ₹20-25 crore were spent annually on health schemes,” he added.
While speaking on the public grievances redressal programme, he said, “So far, 189 ‘Jan Manch’ programmes have been held throughout the state. A total of 47,000 complaints were received of which 43,000 have been resolved,” he said.
He said that 25 new schemes have been announced in the Budget for the financial year 2020-21. The government has increased the number of beneficiaries under housing scheme for the poor from 5,000 to 10,000.
To enhance quality of education Gyanodya and Utkrisht Vidyalaya Yojana have been envisaged which coincide with golden jubilee of the state, said Thakur.
Besides, the government has prepared detailed project reports of 55 of the 69 national highways sanctioned for the state. He said 25 national highways will be opened soon adding that the air connectivity too be improved as the government has mooted a proposal to build new heliports and airports in the state.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the chief minister’s reply, the Congress along with CPI(M) legislator walked out from the Assembly.
