Unless the Andhra Pradesh government comes out with a White Paper on the amount of funds sanctioned by the Central government and the way they were spent, the ‘huge confusion’ in the public mind would not be cleared. The White Paper should also have details about how much the State government had borrowed till now and what it did with the money, opined Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council C. Ramachandraiah. Addressing a press conference at Andhra Ratna Bhavan here on Monday, the Congress leader said that the statements of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu about the financial health of the State and the money that was due from the Centre were confusing the people.
He recalled how the Telugu Desam issued several White Papers as soon as it came to power after bifurcation.
There was a need for a White Paper on the financial status of the State now, he said.
“The Chief Minister was claiming that after the bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh was left with nothing and the Centre was not parting with funds that should come to the State. According to the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Act, the Central government should pay to A.P. the “revenue gap” and not budget deficit,” Mr Ramachandraiah clarified.
Explaining the difference between the revenue gap and budget deficit, he said that revenue lost to Andhra Pradesh from June 2, 2014, the day of bifurcation and March 15, 2015, the beginning of the new financial year was technically the revenue gap.
This was approximately equal to Rs. 2,300 crore and this amount had already been paid to the State by the Centre, he pointed out.
Deficit in budget
The deficit in State budget depended more on the expenditure planned rather than the revenue, he explained. The Act did not make any provision for the Centre to make payments to the tune of Rs. 16,000 crore and it was not proper for the State to demand for it, he said. In a matter of two years the State government had accrued loans to the tune of Rs. 30,000 crore. The public had no idea where the amount was borrowed from and how it was spent, Mr. Ramachandraiah said.
The Chief Minister had even resorted to fudging of figures to increase its creditworthiness, he alleged. The 10.99 per cent growth in SGDP was far too high with most economists being sceptic about it. The high growth rate was shown for high credit rating.
Statements of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu about the financial health of the State are confusing the people.
C. Ramachandraiah
Leader of Opposition in Legislative Council
