Hyderabad: The Legislative Assembly on Monday approved the Telangana Appropriation Bill, 2017 after a four-hour long debate. The House was adjourned sine die immediately after the passage of the Bill.
The main Opposition Congress, besides the MIM, BJP, TD and CPM raised doubts and concern over the “higher” Budget figures, huge debt burden and financial condition of the state.
However, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao replied that the state’s financial condition was strong and buoyant with double-digit growth rate and said that it was poised for 15 per cent growth rate in the coming day as per the estimates of economic experts.
He allayed the Opposition fears of the state reeling under a huge debt burden saying that banks and financial institutions were queuing up to extend loans to the state due to its strong financials and repayment capacity.
“A government taking loans should not be compared with an average middle class person taking loans. Even the US, which is the richest country in the world, has huge loans. China, which is developing fast, has also a huge debt burden. There is nothing wrong in taking loans to implement development programmes and welfare schemes. This is a productive expenditure on which we get returns in other forms. It is a crime not to mobilise funds when there is scope to take loans to spend on development programmes,” Mr Rao said.
He dismissed the Opposition’s charges that debt burden has reached alarming levels. “There is one FRBM Act brought by the Centre. Under this, state governments will be permitted to secure loans only up to 3.50 per cent of GSDP. It is not possible for anyone to secure over and above this limit. Our debt burden too is within the prescribed limits. Where is the question of having additional burden on us?” the CM asked.
He said that Rs 25,000 crore was allocated in Budget this year for repayment of loans. “We should not look at just loans. We should also look at our repayment capacity. This shows how strong our financials are,” Mr Rao said.
