Apang asks for one-time debt waiver for Arunachal

New Delhi, Mar 7 (UNI) Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang called on Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and discussed the debt servicing liability of the State here last evening.

According to official sources, during the meeting, Mr Apang told Mr Chidambaram that Arunachal Pradesh, being a young State, has remained backward due to lack of its own resources.

Mr Apang also apprised the Finance Minister of the plan and non-plan resources availability in the State, and also told him that Arunachal Pradesh was under an ''unconscionably heavy burden of debt servicing, which was one of the biggest drags on its ability to carry out developmental projects.

He also explained that about 61 per cent of the plan funds are being utilised for administrative expenditure under various plan schemes, and these expenses include salaries of officials, wages of contingency and casual labour employed in works departments, office expenses and maintenance of roads and buildings. As a result only a meagre amount was left for various developmental schemes out of the funds being provided to the state by the Planning Commission.

Mr Apang pointed out that expenditures on various posts created during the 7th and 8th Five Year plans continue to be borne from the plan funds. These posts could not be transferred to the non-plan side due to limited non-plan resources. One of the main handicaps in this regard isthat a substantial portion of non-plan resources is being utilised to repay the principal amount and interest component of the debt every year.

He suggested that the ideal solution of State's perennial financial problem would be a one time debt waiver as a special dispensation. But since the matter resolved to writing off debt comes under the purview of the Finance Commission constituted by the Government, the Chief Minister sought new ways to deal with the problem. ''Once the State is free from the debt burden, it can start on a clean slate, he added.

UNI