Chandigarh: The Punjab government has taken additional loans of Rs 47,000 crore and it largely spent them in servicing the debts that were already taken by the previous dispensations, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wrote to Governor Banwarilal Purohit.
In a reply to the Raj Bhavan’s 22 September letter about the state incurring an additional debt of Rs 50,000 crore since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rode to power in March last year, Mann said that of the Rs 47,000 crore taken as debt by his government, “a mammoth Rs 27,016 crore went into interest payments on the debt which your government inherited”.
Another Rs 10,200 crore was spent on capital expenditure, the Punjab CM said Tuesday in his three-page letter while giving the details of the breakup of the additional debt incurred.
Mann further wrote that there was a 37 percent increase in excise collection and another 28 percent increase in stamps and registration duty.
The state’s debt burden stands at Rs 3.12 lakh crore, according to the budget statement given in the assembly this year.
For the past fortnight, opposition parties have criticised the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government for taking Rs 50,000 crore loan in barely 14 months of coming to power. The opposition leaders said that Mann was wasting crores in self projection through advertisements and transporting Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal all over the country using Punjab government-funded aircraft.
“The debt burden of the state has already crossed the Rs 3 lakh crore mark in the financial year 2022-23. It is expected to increase to Rs 3,47,542.39 crore by the end of the financial year 2023-24. Punjab’s economy is bleeding,” tweeted Congress’ Pratap Singh Bajwa, who is also the Leader of Opposition.
Amid the deepening financial crisis in the state, the @AAPPunjab govt has all set to rent a Falcon 2000 aircraft. Per hour rent of the same plane is Rs six lakh. The only motive behind hiring this aircraft at such an exorbitant rent is to take @AamAadmiParty leadership sitting in…
— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) September 30, 2023
Bajwa had earlier demanded a special audit of the Rs 50,000 crore loan taken by the Mann government.
At a press conference Tuesday, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Parambans Singh Romana stated that the chief minister was trying to hide the real financial position of the state through a misinformation campaign.
Punjab with a debt to GSDP ratio of 47.6 percent was among the four states in the country where the ratio is over 40 percent, he said, adding the other three states are Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
“When our government went out of power in 2017 the debt to GSDP ratio was 33 percent. In 5 years, it went up to 44 percent and now it has increased to 47.6 percent,” he added.
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Breakdown of spending
In his letter, Mann said that dealing with the lingering issues left by previous governments was his priority. He said his government had spent Rs 4,000 crore in “sinking investment” and another Rs 2,500 crore to clear the power subsidy arrears from 2017 till March 2022.
He added that Rs 350 crore was spent on a bail out to PUNSUP (state civil supplies corporation) and another almost Rs 800 crore to bailout Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank.
Another Rs 845 crore was spent on bailing out the rural development fund while Rs 1,000 crore was given as arrears to sugarcane farmers and another Rs 1,750 crore was given to fund unpaid central schemes, Mann said.
Giving details of the government’s efforts to mobilise additional funds for development, Mann said there was a 16.6 percent growth in the collection of the GST, 37 percent increase in excise, 13 percent increase in taxes on vehicles and 26 percent increase in stamps and registration.
“These additional receipts have helped immensely in making value accretive investments while initiating payment of arrears and unpaid dues including but not limited to the implementation of the 6th pay commission, UGC scales, power subsidy arrears to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, payment of arrears of Atta-Dal scheme, arrears of sugarcane farmers,” Mann wrote.
Questioning the increase in revenue, Romana said Mann had claimed on Twitter that his government earned Rs 47,923 crore from April 2022 till August 2023, a figure higher than what Haryana earned in the same period.
“This claim was made using the CAG as a source. The fact is that if you see the CAG reports, you will realise that the government has tried to take the people of Punjab for a ride. According to the CAG reports, the total earnings is Rs 31,800 crore from April 2022 till August 2023. The borrowing was Rs 16,075 crore. The government very conveniently added both and showed that as its revenue. Is this a joke? Are people fools?” the SAD leader said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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