CHANDIGARH: A debt-ridden. Punjab Government has appealed again to the Center to “release the state from a vicious debt trap” which will touch a record high of Rs 5,858 crore on March 31.
Making the appeal during his Bud- get speech, the Finance Minister, Kewal Krishan, said that it was in- deed strange that during 1995-96 the state would repay an amount of Rs 977 crore towards its old liability of special term loans and at the same time would increase its debt burden by borrowing an additional Rs 600 crore again as a special term loan. He said that during the last two years the State Government has had to allocate “massive amounts” towards the re- payment of dues which “impair” the state’s development efforts.
The heavy expenditure on law and order in the fight against militancy 3 and the lack of resource mobilization during President’s rule were cited as the main reasons for his dependence on the Center.
The development strategy unfolded in the 1995-96 budget also reveals that most of the funds have been com- mitted to ongoing schemes with only 1.28% (Rs 21.48) of the allocation being earmarked for new schemes. The expenditure on the police and security though lower than the previous year is still as high as Rs 385 crore.
The state is also increasing recourse to privatization in the infrastructural sectors to overcome the shortage of funds. Thus two thermal power projects at Goindwal Sahib and Bathinda and the Shanpur Kandi hydro electric power projects are pro- posed to be developed with private participation.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 24, 1995
