Punjab BJP slams economic policies of AAP govt
Chandigarh, Aug 23 (IANS) Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Kewal Singh Dhillon on Sunday launched a sharp attack on the economic policies and financial mismanagement of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, saying that the state government has pushed Punjab into a debt trap instead of putting the state on the path of development.
Dhillon said that before the AAP government came to power, the state had a debt of around Rs 2.82 lakh crore.
However, during the nearly four-and-a-half-year tenure of the state government, the debt has increased to around Rs 4.5 lakh crore.
He said the state government “is continuously raising fresh loans, but despite this rising debt, there has been no corresponding substantial improvement in the state’s revenue, productive capacity or infrastructure”.
Dhillon said the seriousness of Punjab’s financial situation can be gauged from the fact that Powercom is now preparing to raise a fresh loan of Rs 10,000 crore.
Earlier, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) had also decided to raise Rs 15,000 crore in funds.
He added that the continued dependence of government institutions on borrowing is a serious indication of Punjab’s deteriorating financial condition.
Dhillon said that on the one hand the AAP government is citing the financial crisis to keep the legitimate demands of the people and the rights of government employees and pensioners pending, while on the other hand it is raising loans on a large scale.
He questioned that “if the government’s financial position is so strong, why are government institutions repeatedly being forced to take heavy loans to meet their requirements?”
Dhillon said that paying crores of rupees in fees to merchant bankers and other financial intermediaries for arranging these loans is also placing an additional burden on the state exchequer.
He alleged that Punjab’s debt is continuously increasing, but in return, people are neither seeing development on a corresponding scale nor any major transformation in the fields of employment, industry, healthcare and education.
He said that Punjab is being looted while government funds are being spent on advertisements and political publicity.
–IANS
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