Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday mentioned that, in accordance with the Reserve Financial institution of India, Kerala is without doubt one of the high 5 financially-stressed states in India, and alleged that this was because of the poor governance of successive UDF and LDF governments within the state.
The union finance minister claimed that there was “continuous” poor fiscal administration by each the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Entrance (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Entrance (UDF) — both of whom have been all the time in energy within the state.
She additionally mentioned that previously six years since 2016-17, the Kerala authorities has far exceeded its permitted borrowing restrict of three per cent and has resorted to extra-budgetary borrowing to the tune of over Rs 42,000 crore.
Nirmala Sitharaman mentioned that this off-budget borrowing was carried out via entities akin to Kerala Infrastructure Funding Fund Board (KIIFB) and Kerala Social Safety Pension Firm Ltd, which haven’t any income of their very own.
“Since they have no revenue of their own and cannot repay the loans, who has to repay it? It has to be repaid from the government treasury. Which means the people of Kerala end up paying for it,” the minister mentioned after inaugurating the BJP-led NDA’s Lok Sabha ballot conference right here.
Regardless of this, no cash has been spent on growth of the state, she claimed.
The union minister additionally mentioned that whereas the UPA authorities was in energy on the Centre and there have been eight ministers from Kerala, the state solely obtained Rs 46,303 crore in tax devolution and round Rs 25,000 crore as grants-in-aid from 2004 to 2014.
Nonetheless, from 2014 to February 29, 2024, the Narendra Modi authorities has given the state Rs 1,55,649 crore in tax devolution and Rs 1,58,983 crore as grants-in-aid, regardless that there have been no ministers from Kerala, she mentioned.
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