Chandigarh, March 30 ( ) The Mahila Kisan Union has accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for taking huge loans, saying that the AAP party had been criticizing the then governments for taking massive loans while in opposition, but now the AAP government is also dependent on debt to run its affairs and has sold securities worth Rs 2,500 crore in March, within two weeks of swearing in of the Chief Minister.
Disclosing this in a statement issued here on Wednesday, President of Mahila Kisan Union Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Raju said the newly formed state government on March 29, 2022 has sold the State Development Loan (SDL) of 20-year term bonds to raise a total debt of Rs 2,500 crore. The auction was done by the Reserve Bank of India.
The farmer leader said doling out freebies to the people and huge subsidy bills have forced the state governments to run its affairs by taking huge loans from the open market. She informed that during the current fiscal the budgetary expenditure was met by the previous state government by raising loans of several crore rupees through the auction of such bonds and SDLs through the Reserve Bank of India.
She added that last week, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pleaded the later to provide assistance of one lakh crore rupees as a loan, but this idea was not accepted by most of the people of the state because AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had categorically announced during the assembly elections that AAP government would arrange development funds to the tune of Rs 50,000 by eliminating corruption and illegal mining in the state.
Expressing her concern over the burgeoning debt on the state Bibi Raju said once considered as a prosperous state of the country, now the Punjab has a direct debt of about Rs 3 lakh crore due to the inconsiderate carelessness by the previous state governments in collection of taxes, revenue and generating additional financial resources. The woman leader estimated that the manner in which the incumbent dispensation has made gigantic election promises and assured unaccounted guarantees to the electorates during recent elections, manifests that this debt might enhance to Rs 5 lakh crore approximately in the next five years.
State Development Loans (SDLs): The SDLs are a type of bonds issued by the state government to meet the budget expenditure and implement development projects. The interest on these bonds is paid every half year and the principal amount has to be paid on the maturity date. Such SDLs are auctioned by the RBI and state government can issue SDLs only within the borrowing limit of about 3.5 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). The better the financial position of a state, the lower the interest rate on bonds.
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