Amid concerns expressed by the opposition over the debt situation that Meghalaya is facing, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today said that the State was not under debt trap due to huge loans taken by the State government from various agencies.
Speaking to media persons here on the sidelines of a programme here, Sangma admitted that the loan component is always there but only within the limit allowed by the Reserve Bank of India and the government of India.
“They will never allow us to take more loan than what we should take and there are caps on it and we have been maintaining those,” Sangma said.
According to him, the overall expenditure of the State has gone up almost double because of multiple reasons.
“We are not financing our development by taking loans. Our share of central taxes has doubled from Rs 4000 crore to Rs 9000 crore for the last five years. Our own taxes have gone up from Rs 1700 crore in 2018 to almost Rs 4700 crore in the last five years,” Sangma said.
He also said that the share of centrally sponsored schemes and the money that the State gets has almost tripled if one takes the average of all schemes put together.
Stating that the State’s Externally Aided Projects (EAPs) expenditure has gone up five times compared to what it was in the past, Sangma said that the EAPs, although sponsored by the World Bank, are 72 per cent borne by the government of India.
“We only pay only 28 per cent and that is also not a loan we have to pay upfront and the government of India then subsidies and pays the remaining 72 per cent,” the chief minister said.
He also said that Meghalaya has been able to make use of the Special Assistance or Capital Investment which the Centre has given, a 50 year long loan and interest free and for that there is a Consolidated Fund which the government is putting money to pay back so that it will not be burden on the State.
“We have been able to take more than four times the amount was allotted,” the chief minister said.
Slamming the opposition for raising the issue of debt from time to time, Sangma said the opposition MLAs “ran away” when he replied on the issue during the recent Assembly session.
“…when our time comes to reply they run away. I guess this is not a very responsible way to be a public representative and I urge them to have healthy debates on the floor of the House. They could have easily asked me these questions on the day of the budget. I have given a very detailed presentation along with facts and figures and most people are now clear what’s happening. But sadly they (opposition) were not there. I don’t mind. I can reply again if they wish another time with the same presentation,” the chief minister said.
It may be mentioned that the opposition legislators recently staged a walkout from the State Assembly in protest against the violation of Assembly rules on voting of demand for grants before the reply to the budget discussion by Sangma.
