The State government owes a whopping Rs. 1,05,584.23 crore in the form of loans availed from various public sector undertakings and the Union government in the last 16 years, as on March 31, 2015. This includes dues of Rs. 12,465.98 crore passed on by governments before 1999.
This revelation came through information from the Finance Department by RTI activist Bheemappa G. Gadad of Belagavi.
The figures indicate that the loan receipts had been consistently increasing, to meet the rising costs of development works, besides increasing quantum of allocations towards various welfare programmes and some populist programmes initiated by successive governments. The opening balance of Rs. 12,465.98 crore in 1999-2000 went up to Rs. 88,522.44 crore in 2014-15, and ended with Rs. 1,05,584.83 crore on March 31, 2015.
The loan receipts during last two financial years were Rs. 17,286.82 crore during 2013-14 and Rs. 21,874.62 crore, accounting for a total of Rs. 38,861.44 crore.
Interestingly, the revelation comes close on the heels of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claiming “sound finance” in his government. The outstanding loan as on March 31, 2015 of Rs. 1,05,584.83 crore is more than the annual plan size of Rs. 72,597 crore and little less than the budget estimates of Rs. 1,16,360.32 crore as mentioned the State’s finance budget for 2015-16.
Mr. Gadad said that though successive governments had been raising loans to fund various development schemes and projects, the need of the hour was to undertake a thorough assessment of its utilisation. He feared that governments had been raising loans for development works indiscriminately and passing on the burden of repayment on gullible tax payers.
The State owes Rs. 1,05,584.23 crore in the last 16 years, as on March 31, 2015
