Getting loans is no big deal, says Puvvada

Hyderabad: Stating that the Government of India was taking loans more than the prescribed limits, Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar on Tuesday said people have achieved separate State, which was thought impossible, and getting a loan was no big deal.

Addressing a press conference, along with Telangana State Planning Board vice- chairman B Vinod Kumar, at Telangana Bhavan, Ajay said the Centre had taken Rs 100 lakh crore loans during the last eight years and asked why the State cannot seek loans. He demanded to know what the Centre had done with Rs 100 lakh crore funds.

"We have achieved something which was supposed to be impossible and getting a loan was no big deal. We will follow all the legal aspects for procuring loans," said Ajay, alleging that the Centre was creating hurdles for the State to secure loans even though borrowing depends on the State's income. The loans were taken for constructing projects, he asserted.

Vinod Kumar stated that all States were taking loans, and as per the NITI Ayog, the only State to repay loans promptly was Telangana. "It is the Centre, which is going against the FRBM regulations. The loans taken are being spent on State farmers and people, he pointed out.

Kumar said there was no truth in allegation of Telangana BJP Chief Bandi Sanjay on Bhadradri power project. He said the machinery of the project was from the BHEL, a Central institution. "Bandi Sanjay is making allegations against his own government and accusing the TRS government," said Kumar. He said it was the State government which wrote to the Centre that the price per unit was Rs 20. Based on government's letter, the prices were decreased to Rs 12 a unit.

"The comments of Bandi Sanjay are like Tughlaq," he quipped, while asking the BJP leader to resist from making allegations and advised him to prove such charges.