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'Jagan government borrowed ₹1.55 lakh cr in 20 months': TDP
In its defence, the YSRC said borrowings were for welfare schemes.
As the Andhra Pradesh state assembly is getting ready for the budget session in the last week of March, the ruling YSR Congress party and the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have locked horns, accusing each other of being responsible for the mounting debt burden of the state.
In a statement on Friday, Telugu Desam Party politburo member and former state finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said the Jagan Mohan Reddy government resorted to indiscriminate borrowings to the tune of ₹1.55 lakh crore in the last 20 months of its rule.
Quoting a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report and details obtained from the state finance department through a Right to Information (RTI) query, Ramakrishnudu said the Jagan government had incurred debts to the extent of ₹46,503.21 crore through various budgetary proposals in 2019-20 and another ₹73,912.91 crore during 2020-21 till January end.
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“Another ₹34,650 crore was raised through non-budgeted borrowings by various state government corporations. In all, an amount of ₹1,55,066.12 crore was raised in the form of loans in a span of 20 months. Despite raising such massive loans, the Jagan government had not taken up any developmental works,” the former finance minister said.
He pointed out that the previous TDP regime headed by N Chandrababu Naidu had borrowed ₹1,30,146.98 crore in five years (60 months). The maximum amount of loans taken was ₹38,282 crore in 2018-19.
While several developmental works and infrastructure projects were taken up during the TDP regime, the present YSRC government incurred wasteful expenditure in the name of welfare schemes, he said.
“Even this so-called welfare is disruptive and dishonest. For example, Jagan is giving ₹10,000 each to autorickshaw drivers under the Vahana Mitra scheme, but he increased the state cess on diesel and petrol. Similarly in the name of house sites scheme, the YSRC leaders embezzled ₹6,500 crore,” the TDP leader alleged.
He pointed out that the Jagan government had done away with several welfare schemes launched by the TDP government, such as Anna Canteens, insurance for farmers, loan waiver for farmers, festival gifts to various communities, subsidising foreign education and unemployment allowance.
State finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy admitted that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government had gone in for huge borrowings in the last 20 months but also defended the same saying it had to borrow more funds because of the crippling of state finances due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The debts availed by the government indeed are more than the budget estimates but it is not confined to Andhra Pradesh. Every state in the country had to face the situation due to Covid-19,” he said.
He said the state’s revenue had come down drastically due to the pandemic and the state had to spend huge money to control the disease.
Reddy said the government had taken a conscious decision to continue the welfare schemes despite negative growth. “While the Chandrababu Naidu government had spent borrowed funds on unproductive works, our government has taken loans only to implement welfare schemes for the poor,” Reddy said.
He said the direct cash transfer schemes had only increased the purchasing power of the people so that the money would come back into the state economy. “Apart from loans, the state government had an increase in non-tax revenue, apart from grants-in-aid by the Centre,” he said.
The minister claimed that the revenue deficit was brought down from minus 12.9 per cent in the first quarter of the 2020-21 financial year to minus 3 per cent by the fourth quarter.
