Shimla: Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today took exception to the state government’s decision of calling a Rs 800 Crore World Bank’s loan as ”grant”.
”The government’s latest ploy to term Rs 800 crore World Bank loan as grant speaks volumes of both financial and intellectual bankruptcy of the Congress party,” said Dhumal in a communiqué here.
“It is a desperate effort to hoodwink the electorate just before the assembly elections. If it is a grant then why is the government signing a loan agreement with the Bank,†he said.
Comparing the Congress Government with that of the Roman Emperor Nero, Dhumal stated that while Nero was busy playing his violin, Rome was burning, so is the congress functioning in the state and continues to build castles in the air.
The former chief minister alleged that the Bank loan had been taken for debt repayment, which had reached alarming proportions due to the wrong fiscal policies of the Virbhadra Singh Government.
The Congress Government has pushed the state into a debt trap wherein more and more loans were being raised to offset the interest burden of the previous loans and borrowings, he said.
Dhumal alleged that while the government was raising loans from the Bank, several hundred thousand were lying unspent with the deputy commissioners, District Rural Development Authority project officers, Block Development Officers and other developmental agencies.
Referring to the Comptroller and Accountant General report, he said it too had pointed out that the state was falling into a debt trap. He said the government was not even aware of the implications of its contradictory and self-defeating policies, adding that the loan was an attempt for a cover-up of its fiscal follies.
The former chief minister also called upon the state government to make public the hidden costs of this loan amount
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
