TDP demands white paper on debts

Hyderabad, Feb 22 (UNI) The main opposition Telugu Desam Party today demanded that the Andhra Pradesh Government come out with a white paper on the State's debt position.

Initating a debate on the budget, TDP Legislature Party Deputy leader N Janardhan Reddy maintained that the Government owed an explantion to the people as to how it utilised the Rs 16,000 crore mobilised in the last two years.

Burdening each person in the state with taxes to the tune of Rs 5,000, the Government had totally neglected the welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward classes who constituted 80 per cent of the state's population, he charged.

Referring to the Government's claim that it had not availed overdraft facility from the RBI, he asked ''when you don't spend even the budgetary allocation made for various departments, where is the need for overdraft facility.'' The Congress Government in the State was competiting with the Centre in hiking the price of petroleum products, he alleged, demanding reduction in sales tax on these products to provide relief to the commonman.

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