Harish slams Nirmala’s take on TS debt burden

HYDERABAD: Finance minister T. Harish Rao took strong exception to the comments made by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the debt burden of the Telangana government, during a post-budget interactive session here on Thursday.

Speaking to the media in Siddipet on Friday, Rao said that whatever loans the TS government had taken till date was after obtaining the Centre’s approval.
"It's unfortunate that Sitharaman has made baseless allegations against the state government. Is it possible for any state to take loans beyond the permissible limits set by the Centre," he asked.

The state government borrowed money for capital expenditure and created assets but the Narendra Modi government at the Centre took loans for revenue expenditure and to pay interest on loans, he said.

"We took loans to construct Kaleshwaram, Palamuru Rangareddy and Sitarama projects, Mission Bhagiratha, among others. While we utilised loans for creating assets, the Modi government is using 48.7 per cent of loans on revenue expenditure like payment of interest on loans," Rao pointed out.

He said that Centre, which has borrowed Rs 100 lakh crore in the last eight years, has no right to point fingers at Telangana, whose debt position is well within permissible limits under FRBM Act.

"Telangana figures fourth from the bottom in debt to GSDP ratio. This proves beyond doubt that our debt-burden is very low compared to several other states," he said.

Harish Rao ridiculed that union ministers were making contradictory statements on establishing medical colleges in Telangana.

"The Union health minister stated in Parliament that they have not received any proposals from the Telangana government for setting up medical colleges. Sitharaman now says they have received proposals for establishing medical colleges in Khammam and Karimnagar, which they had rejected as both districts already have medical colleges. Their cabinet colleague G. Kishan Reddy says that the Centre has sanctioned eight medical colleges for Telangana. Who is correct? It is preposterous," Rao said.