Badal requests waiver of loans
9 May 2012 1:20 AM GMT
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called on the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee seeking his personal intervention for complete waiver of the outstanding small savings loan of Rs 22,202 crore as on 31 March 2012 or else grant moratorium of repayment of principal and interest on the loan for five years from the current fiscal.
The Chief Minister along with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Member of Parliament from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur met Mukherjee in his office here at North Block on Monday. They apprised the Union Finance Minister thatPunjab was a revenue surplus state till 1986-87. On the one hand, the state had to incur heavy expenditure on security and on the other little effort was made to mobilise additional resources. Even the industry didn’t find the border state with a hostile neighbor an attractive destination for investment.
Besides the tax concessions to neighboring states in 2000-01 rendered the manufacturing sector totally uncompetitive. Above all the state had ruined its soil and water resources and was incurring having expenditure on power in order to ensure national food security.
The Chief Minister also apprised Mukherjee that 13th Finance Commission identified three states of West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala which had revenue deficit in the financial year 2007-08 as debt stressed. Subsequently, the Government of India (GoI) constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Union Expenditure Secretary. The committee held three meetings, two in August 2010 and the third in November 2011. However, the committee has yet to submit its report. Currently the state has an outstanding debt of Rs.77585 crore as on March 31, 2012. The annual interest liability was about Rs 6,500 crore.
The Chief Minister further mentioned that 13th Finance Commission had recommended only minor interest relief of resetting the rate of interest 9% of small savings loan and waiver of outstanding loans of Rs 90 crore granted by various central ministries other than Ministry of Finance.
The state had already amended its Financial Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act to make its consistence with the fiscal consolidation roadmap recommended by the commission. However, the state was finding extremely difficult to meet these targets.
The Chief Minister along with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Member of Parliament from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur met Mukherjee in his office here at North Block on Monday. They apprised the Union Finance Minister thatPunjab was a revenue surplus state till 1986-87. On the one hand, the state had to incur heavy expenditure on security and on the other little effort was made to mobilise additional resources. Even the industry didn’t find the border state with a hostile neighbor an attractive destination for investment.
Besides the tax concessions to neighboring states in 2000-01 rendered the manufacturing sector totally uncompetitive. Above all the state had ruined its soil and water resources and was incurring having expenditure on power in order to ensure national food security.
The Chief Minister also apprised Mukherjee that 13th Finance Commission identified three states of West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala which had revenue deficit in the financial year 2007-08 as debt stressed. Subsequently, the Government of India (GoI) constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Union Expenditure Secretary. The committee held three meetings, two in August 2010 and the third in November 2011. However, the committee has yet to submit its report. Currently the state has an outstanding debt of Rs.77585 crore as on March 31, 2012. The annual interest liability was about Rs 6,500 crore.
The Chief Minister further mentioned that 13th Finance Commission had recommended only minor interest relief of resetting the rate of interest 9% of small savings loan and waiver of outstanding loans of Rs 90 crore granted by various central ministries other than Ministry of Finance.
The state had already amended its Financial Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act to make its consistence with the fiscal consolidation roadmap recommended by the commission. However, the state was finding extremely difficult to meet these targets.
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