Govt. hiding Central neglect to heap burdens on people: VS

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 2. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan, has said that the UDF Government is turning a blind eye on Centre's discriminatory treatment of the State in order to place additional burdens on the people of Kerala.

Releasing the `alternative document' to the `White Paper' issued by the Antony Government at a news conference here today, Mr. Achuthanandan pointed out that instead of trying to correct the structural imbalances in Central-State fiscal relations, the attempt of the `White Paper' was on place heaping new levies and higher user fees on the people.

The Opposition Leader pointed out that the State had sustained a loss of Rs. 2,825 crores under various heads during the last four years on account of the discriminatory treatment meted out to the State by the Centre and the liberalised import policies. The `White Paper', he pointed out, was silent about all this and seemed to speak about Kerala as if it were `an independent State'. Instead of suggesting ways to rectify the structural imbalances in Central-State fiscal relations what the `White Paper' attempted to do was to impose additional burden on the people.

Dwelling at length on the comparative performance of the LDF and UDF regimes on the development front, Mr. Achuthanandan pointed out that while Plan expenditure during the five years of UDF rule was Rs. 5,815 crores, that under LDF rule was Rs. 15,401 crores. The development expenditure (under revenue and capital heads) was Rs. 15,198 crores under UDF while it was Rs. 32,002 under LDF. The capital expenditure alone under the two Governments showed that the LDF had performed better with a total capital expenditure of Rs. 5,308 crores against a mere Rs. 1,937 crores spent by the UDF between 1991-'96.

The expenditure for major development sectors had also shown substantial growth under the LDF. Thus, the expenditure on education rose from Rs. 5,822 crores under UDF to Rs. 10,343 crores under LDF, that for health from Rs. 1,996 crores to 3,572 crores, for agriculture from Rs. 1,889 crores to Rs. 3,129 crores, for irrigation from Rs. 1,076 crores to Rs. 1,554 crores, for public works from Rs. 909 crores to Rs. 1,970 crores and for industries from Rs. 870 crores to Rs. 1,483 crores.

Mr. Achuthanandan also took strong exception to what he termed attempts of the Antony Government to mislead the people about the actual debt burden of the State. The `White Paper' stated that the debt burden had risen from Rs. 10,14 crores to Rs. 23,778 crores during 1996-'01. The combined debt of the State had registered a 92 per cent increase during 1991-'96. As against this, Kerala's debt burden had risen during the period by 115 per cent. On the contrary, despite unprecedented increase in expenditure on all fronts and shortfall in internal revenue mobilisation to the tune of Rs. 1,400 crores, the LDF Government could contain the rise in debt to 135 per cent, he contended. The rise in debt during 2000-'01 was by 14.78 per cent as against 17.48 per cent during the tenure of the UDF Government. However, the `White Paper' had deliberately covered this up, he alleged.

Coming out strongly against hike in power tariff, Mr. Achuthanandan said the KSEB's annual revenue deficit figure of Rs. 1,925 crores shown in the `White Paper' was grossly exaggerated. This, he said, was the result of some fundamental errors in the calculation of the Board's revenue expenditure. The Board's revenue expenditure, according to the `White Paper', was Rs. 4,060.86 crores, But, actually, it was only Rs. 3,556.80 crores. Which meant that the figure was actually Rs. 504 crores less than what was shown in the `White Paper'. This had happened because a portion of the Board's capital expenditure as revenue expenditure.

Various departments owed the KSEB, Rs. 350 crores. If the departments were asked to return this sum, the Board's revenue deficit would fall further by Rs. 350 crores. The `White Paper' had estimated the `other expenses' of the Board at Rs. 161.88 crores a year. However, according to figures for 2000-'01, it came to only Rs. 91.59 crores. This meant that the figure had been blown up by Rs. 70.29 crores. The `White Paper' was also silent about the scope for saving about Rs. 100 crores annually by streamlining domestic production scientifically and by keeping a close tab on purchases from outside.

Although the `White Paper' spoke the Board's debt burden having increased from Rs. 1,839.04 crores as on March 31, 1996, to Rs. 4,391.56 crores as on March 31, 2000, it was silent on the capital expenditure incurred during the period. As against work involving capital expenditure totalling Rs. 1,530.27 crores was taken up by the UDF regime during 1991-'96, the LDF Government had implemented projects costing Rs. 3,061.32 crores during 1996- '01. While the UDF regime added just 17 MW to the State's installed capacity, the LDF had added 1,101.6 MW and granted 17 lakh service connections.

He said it would be wrong to assess KSEB in terms of profit and loss. The KSEB was a public utility. Even if resource saving measures were effected, some revenue shortfall would have to be bridged. But this could be done to some extent by effecting savings through various means, he added.

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