Govt will fulfil Super Six assurances, asserts FM

Vijayawada: Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav has alleged that the State’s economy reached the bankruptcy stage under the YSRCP rule due to taking of excess loans and increasing liabilities in the State between 2019 and 2024.

He said the total liabilities of the State government including government loans and corporate loans and others reached nearly Rs 10 lakh crore. He said the loans were taken to repay the loans and interest on the loans. He said the government cannot spend on welfare for a long time taking loans.

The Finance Minister was giving his reply on the Budget at the Legislative Council on Monday.

The Finance Minister has made it clear that the total liabilities reached nearly Rs 10 lakh crore.

He said the government is not a business organisation and does not maintain profit and loss account.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Botcha Satyanarayana and others while participating in the discussion alleged the government has not made adequate allocations for the Super Six schemes in the Budget.

The YSRCP members said there was no allocation for Talliki Vandanam and government is also not properly implementing the free gas cylinders scheme.

Responding to the allegations, the Finance Minister said the NDA government with the help of Central government is trying to recover the State’s economy and stated that the government would fulfil Super Six assurances given to the people.

Minister Keshav said the liabilities in the YSRCP government were 9.74 lakh crore which included the government loans, corporation loans and pending dues.

He also pointed out that the YSRCP government utilised the provident fund of the employees for other purposes. He said the credit rating of the State government fell drastically during the YSRCP rule.

As a result, the previous government mortgaged government properties and offices to get the loans.

He said the YSRCP government had taken loans to repay the loans and for payment of interests and capital expenditure was only 22 per cent in five years of YSRCP rule.

He said that during the TDP regime, the total liability was Rs 3,75,000 crore and the government had spent most of the loan amount on capital expenditure and to generate wealth.

Keshav alleged that the State financial position reached the bankrupt stage during the YSRCP rule.

He said on coming to power, the NDA government initiated measures to bring back the State’s economy on the right track.