Sanjay Pahwa , NewDelhi : PunjabChief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal called on the Union Finance Minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee seeking his personal intervention for complete waiver of theoutstanding small savings loan of Rs. 22,202 crore as on March 31, 2012 or elsegrant moratorium of repayment of principal and interest on the loan for fiveyears from the current fiscal.
The Chief Minister along with Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal andMember Parliament from Bathinda Mrs Harsimrat Kaur, met Mr Mukherjee in hisoffice here at North Block on Monday late evening. They apprised the UnionFinance Minister that Punjab was a revenue surplus state till 1986-87. Statefinances were adversely affected during the long period of militancy andPresident’s rule. On the one hand, the state had to incur heavy expenditure onsecurity and on the other little effort was made to mobilize additional resources.Even the industry didn’t find the border state with a hostile neighbor anattractive destination for investment. Besides the tax concessions toneighboring states in 2000-01 rendered the manufacturing sector totallyuncompetitive. Above all the state had ruined its soil and water resources andwas incurring having expenditure on power in order to ensure national foodsecurity.
TheChief Minister also apprised Mr Mukherjee that 13th FinanceCommission identified three states of West Bengal, Punjab and Kerala which hadrevenue deficit in the financial year 2007-08 as debt stressed. Subsequently,the Government of India (GoI) constituted a committee under the chairmanship ofUnion Expenditure Secretary. The committee held three meetings, two in August,2010 and 3rd in November, 2011. However, the committee has yet tosubmit its report. Currently the state has an outstanding debt of Rs.77585crore as on March 31, 2012. The annual interest liability was about Rs. 6500crore.
TheChief Minister further mentioned that 13th Finance Commission hadrecommended only minor interest relief of resetting the rate of interest 9% ofsmall savings loan and waiver of outstanding loans of Rs. 90 crore granted byvarious central ministries other than Ministry of Finance. The state hadalready amended its Financial Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Actto make its consistence with the fiscal consolidation roadmap recommended bythe commission. However, the state was finding extremely difficult to meetthese targets.
MrBadal also urged the Union Finance Minister to immediately release the balancegrants of Rs 240 crore @ Rs 80 per year, which had been already earmarked bythe 13th Finance Commission for Punjab without any conditionalitywhatsoever. He pleaded that the said amount being a part of the state’s sharein Central taxes, was not only the legitimate right of Punjab but was alsorequired by the state for maintenance of its infra structure in the watersector. The Chief Minister also impressed upon Mr Mukherjee for quick disbursalof this amount to the state without linking it to formation of “State WaterRegulatory Authority” as per recommendation of the 13th FinanceCommission.
TheChief Minister also raised the issue of immediate settlement of the claims ofthe state procurement agencies amounting to Rs 7461 crore from the crop season2003-2004 onwards, still recoverable from GoI/Food Corporation of India (FCI).Mr Badal also apprised the Union Finance Minister that the state government waspaying an interest @ 13% which comes to be a hefty liability of Rs 75 crore permonth.
TheChief Minister also requested Mr Mukherjee to include funding for theimprovement of Power Transmission system under NABARD loan scheme, as currentlyit does not provide loan for improving transmission infra structure in ruralareas rather provided loans to state power utilities only for establishingpower generation plants up to 10 Mega Watt. He informed the Union Finance Minister that inadequate power infrastructure in rural areas had adversely impacted the quality of life and therewas a dire need to bring all round improvement in the transmission system inthe rural areas through laying far more lines, constructing adequate Gridstations and installing more transformers etc.
Summingup the discussions Mr Mukherjee assured the Chief Minister, Deputy ChiefMinister and Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal that he would soon convene a meeting ofthe senior officers of the Ministry to settle all the pending issues on thepriority after getting them thoroughly examined. The Chief Minister thanked MrMukherjee for the positive outcome of the meeting.
TheChief Minister was accompanied by his Principal Secretary Mr SK Sandhu andSpecial Principal Secretary Mr KJS Cheema.