Shimla, Nov 3 (PTI) In the first 10 months of its tenure, the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh has added a loan liability of Rs 10,300 crore to the existing debt, according to information procured by a BJP leader under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

State BJP media incharge Karan Nanda, who filed the RTI, claimed the incumbent government borrowed in just 10 months what the previous BJP dispensaion did in two years from 2018 -2020.

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The Congress and the BJP are at loggerheads over the loan liability, accusing each other of the financial mismanagement pushing the state into a debt trap.

From day one since coming to power, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has been accusing the previous BJP government of leaving behind a financial mess by putting the state under a debt of over Rs 75,000 crore.

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The BJP state president Rajiv Bindal has said that blaming debt burden on the previous government is wrong and unfair.

The data on state borrowings furnished in response to the RTI query revealed the incumbent government took loans worth Rs 10,300 crores in its first 10 months between December 2022 and October 2023 which is almost equal to Rs 10,600 crores taken by the BJP government in two years from 2018 -2020, said state BJP media incharge Karan Nanda, who filed the RTI.

The BJP came to power in December 2017 and raised loans worth Rs 28,784 crores during its five-year tenure, he said.

This implies that on average a loan of Rs 5,757 crore was taken annually while the present Congress government has taken loan of 10,300 crore in just 10 months, he said.

This money, he claimed, is being wasted on the salaries and benefits given to chief parliament Secretaries and advisors with cabinet ranks.

BJP state president Rajiv Bindal alleged the practice of raising loans started during the tenure of Congress government led by former chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

"Blaming the BJP government headed by former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur for the financial mess is wrong and unfair," he told PTI.

He said the government takes loan for development work and repaying of loans and interests but the question is where are the funds going now as development works "have come to a standstill, recruitments are not happening and institutions opened during the tenure of BJP are being closed".

At this rate, he claimed, the Congress government would end up taking Rs 60,000 crore in five years apart from a minimum Rs 30,000 crore required to fulfil the poll guarantees including Rs 1,500 monthly to women and 300 units of free electricity.

The state government has shut down about 1,000 education, revenue, PWD and other institutions stating that they were opened in the fag end of previous BJP government with polls on mind without making financial provisions.

According to a white paper presented by Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri during the monsoon session of the assembly in September, the previous BJP had government inherited a loan liability of Rs 47,906 crore in 2017-18 and raised additional loans worth Rs 28,784 crore.

According to the the white paper, as on March 31, 2023, the cumulative liability of the state government exceeded Rs 92,774 crore which included Rs 76,630 crore debt liability, Rs 10,600 crore unpaid dues on account of revised payscales and dearness allowance and other liabilities of Rs 5544 crore.

Himachal Pradesh has been ranked among the five most debt-ridden states in the country, Agnihotri had said, adding that according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the per capita debt was Rs 66,000 when Jai Ram Thakur took over in December 2017 and it has increased to Rs 1, 02,818.

The situation is so grim that Rs 9,048 crore has been provided in 2023-24 budget for interest payment (Rs 5,262 crore) and repayment of loans(Rs 3,486 crore) and cumulative losses of 13 out of 23 Public Undertakings have exceeded Rs 5,000 crore, he added.

The Congress blamed the previous BJP government for borrowing of Rs 16,262 crore during the election year in 2022-23 and pointed out avoidable expenditures like spending on political functions, industrial meets and Jan Manch.

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