Days after Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann explain Rs 50 thousand crore debt taken by the state during the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regime, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Monday said the state government has raised debt of Rs 47109 crore during last one-and-half-year.
Addressing a press conference at the Punjab Bhavan today, the Minister said that the debt raised by the AAP government includes debt of Rs 32,448 crore raised during the fiscal year 2022-23 and Rs 14661 crore from 1 April 2023 to 31 August 2023.
He said that out of this, Rs 27,106 crore were paid as interest on the debt raised by the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) and Congress governments. Cheema also appealed to the Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit to help the state government in getting dues of Rs 8145 crore from the Union Government.
The Finance Minister said apart from spending Rs 10,208 crore on capital expenditure, the state government bear debt of Rs 1148 crore of Punjab State Civil Supplies Corporation (PUNSUP) and Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank to bail out these institutions, and paid Rs 2556 crore to Punjab State Power Company Limited (PSPCL) for pending power subsidy of previous governments.
He said this apart, Rs 798 crore of Rural Development Fund, Rs 1008 crore of sugarcane farmers, Rs 1750 crore of centrally sponsored schemes were paid. Cheema said that Rs 4000 crore were also invested in the sinking fund established by the Union government to get loans at affordable rates.
The Finance Minister said that a total of Rs 8145 crore is owed to the Centre, which includes Rs 5637 crore from Rural Development Fund, Rs 1857 crore from Special Capital Assistance and Rs 651 Crore from National Health Mission (NHM).
He said that apart from writing letters to the Union Government, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann paid a visit to the concerned Union Minister to seek the state’s dues including Rural Development Fund (RDF) pending towards the Union Government.
Accusing the Opposition leaders of making false statements against the AAP government, Cheema said the state has registered an increase of 17 per cent in GST, 44 per cent in excise revenue, 13 per cent in taxes on vehicles, and 3 per cent in revenue from stamp and registration.
He said the current Punjab government has also succeeded in reducing the interest rate on Rs 32,000 crore cash credit limit debt extended to Punjab by the Akali-BJP government, to 7.35 per cent after negotiating with the Union Government, which saved the state Rs 3,500 crore.