"Propaganda": Punjab Minister Hits Back At Opposition's Debt Charge

Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said that Rs 27,000 crore from around Rs 47,000 raised in the last 18 months has been paid as interest on the borrowings under previous governments amid the opposition targeting the AAP leadership over the state's debts.

"Rs 27000 crores paid as interest on loans taken by previous SAD-BJP and Congress-led state governments," Mr Cheema said.

He also appealed the Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit to help the state government in getting dues of Rs 8,145 crore from the Union Government.

The minister accused the Congress, BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal of spreading "false propaganda" against the AAP government after the opposition parties accused the Bhagwant Mann dispensation of pushing the state to the brink of financial calamity with an addition of Rs 50,000 crore more debt since it came to power last year.

Mr Cheema said that the state government has raised debt of Rs 47,109 crore during last one and half year which includes debt of Rs 32,448 crore raised during the fiscal year 2022-23 and Rs 14,661 crore from April 1, 2023 to August 31, 2023. He said that out of this, Rs 27,106 crore were paid as interest on the debt raised by the previous Akali-BJP and Congress led state governments.

The opposition parties had latched onto the issue to target the Mann government after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit in his letter to the Chief Minister said that he had learnt that "the debt of Punjab rose by about Rs 50,000 crore during your regime".

Harpal Singh Cheema said that state has registered an increase of 17 percent in GST, 44 percent in excise revenue, 13 percent in taxes on vehicles, and 3 percent in revenue from stamp and registration. He said that the current Punjab government has also succeeded in reducing the interest rate on Rs 32,000 Crore Cash Credit Limit debt extended to Punjab by the Akali-BJP government, to 7.35 per cent after negotiating with the Union Government, which saved the state Rs 3,500 crore.

Apart from spending Rs 10,208 crore on capital expenditure, the state government bore the burden of Rs 1,148 crore of Punjab State Civil Supplies and Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank to bail out these institutions.

The government also paid Rs 2,556 crore to power utility Punjab State Power Corporation Limited for the pending power subsidy of previous governments.

Apart from this, Rs 798 crore of Rural Development Fund, Rs 1,008 crore of sugarcane farmers, Rs 1,750 crore of centrally sponsored schemes were paid, he said.

A sum of Rs 4,000 crore was also invested in the "sinking fund" established by the Union government to get loans at affordable rates, said Mr Cheema.

The minister said a total of Rs 8,145 crore is pending with the Centre, which includes Rs 5,637 crore of Rural Development Fund (RDF), Rs 1,857 crore of Special Capital Assistance and Rs 651 crore of National Health Mission (NHM).

Apart from writing letters to the Union government, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann visited the Union minister concerned to seek the state's dues including the RDF, he said.