Harish Rao asks BJP leaders to secure Central loan of Rs1L cr

Hyderabad: Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday asked the State BJP leaders to get the loan of Rs 1 lakh crore from the Centre if there were no conditions in taking up electricity reforms.

The minister was replying to a discussion on the Centre's dual policy on FRBM Act in the Assembly. Rao said the BJP leaders claim that there was no condition of meters in the Act. "If there is no condition, the Centre should provide loans to the tune of Rs 1,05,512 crore. The Centre had announced a 0.5 percent increase in the FRBM limit if the State government agrees to implement the power reforms," he stated.

The minister said that it was the State government that was giving to the Centre and not the latter. The State gave Rs 365,795 crore to the Centre during the last seven years. The Centre gave Rs 196,448 crore to the State, which is less than what the State was giving. For every Rs 1, the State is getting 53 paise; 43 paise is spent on other States, said Rao. "The State has 2.9 percent of the country's population, but our State is contributing 4.9 per cent to the country's GDP. We increased assets and gave to the poor, not like the Centre which was giving away to a few," he remarked.

Responding to the loan burden, Rao said as per the RBI report, that Punjab was the number one State in terms of taking loans with 42.5 percent of debt to GSDP. Five States, including Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, and Rajasthan, has been termed as financially vulnerable, he added. He said the Central government had taken more loans; it has imposed a burden of Rs 125,679 on every individual. In Telangana, it was Rs. 94,272. "The Centre wants States to depend on it. They want a strong Centre and weak States," observed Rao. He said the money borrowed was being spent on capital expenditure. Telangana was a champion, promptly repaying the loans, whereas the Centre was procuring loans for revenue expenditure, he alleged.

Refuting claims of the BJP leaders that the Centre was giving 42 percent devolution of funds, Rao asserted that the State was getting only 29.6 percent. It was losing money because the Centre was collecting funds in the form of Cess, which are not shared with the State governments.

The minister targeted BJP leaders stating that their programs were failed programs and said, "while TRS wants 'safalam, samkshemam samarasyam', the BJP wants 'vifalam, visham vidvesham'."

Earlier, CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said as its loans have crossed 25 percent of the GDP at least now the State should have budget management and decrease the loan burden on citizens.

M Raghunandan Rao (BJP) said the minister was not speaking about the assistance the State got on railway lines and roads, food subsidies of Rs 26,765 crore, GST compensation.