White paper on State finances sought

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 20. The Kerala Congress(Jacob) leader, Mr. T.M. Jacob, demanded here on Sunday that the State Government should issue a white paper on its finances in view of the strong criticism by the Centre.

Mr. Jacob said the State was answerable to the criticism by the Union Minister of State for Finance, Mr. V. Dhananjay Kumar, that the State had been on overdrafts three times during the first four months of the financial year. The State was also running a deficit of Rs. 176 crores at the beginning of the financial year as the Government had overspent on the allocations from the Centre.

An explanation was also required for the Union Minister's criticism that the LDF Government had not invested anything in the public sector during its rule.

Mr. Jacob noted that the total debts of the State had exceeded Rs. 20,000 crores owing to corruption, inefficiency and extravagant spending by the Government. Of the total debts, a major part had been availed during the four years of LDF rule. The debts were bound to go up further considering the cut in Central Plan assistance this year and the market borrowing of Rs. 500 crores for infrastructure development last year.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Gowda tells Centre to abridge award term
Next     : Trees felled illegally at Periya: report