Kadam demands white paper on debt

Mumbai, Mar 25 (UNI) Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramdas Kadam today demanded the State Government provide a detailed white paper on the huge debt Maharashtra is facing.

Initiating the discussion on the Budget, Mr Kadam said the state is under a debt of Rs 1,58,520 crore.

''When the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance came to power in 1995, Maharashtra was under a debt of Rs 16,000 crore and when it left in 1999 the debt was Rs 36,000 crore. But during this period, the Government used money in Krishna Valley and for construction of 55 overbridges in the metropolis,'' Mr Kadam clarified.

''Now the debt has reached 1,58,520 crore and the Government should give details as to why it took loans and how was it utilised,'' he demanded, adding that already the state is paying Rs 1,250 crore as interest of the debt per year.

However, Mr Kadam lauded the Finance Minister for economic discipline and bringing the salary, pension and interest expenditure down from 75 per cent to 64 per cent.

He raised the issue of 28 corporations out of 51 suffering losses and cited that five major corporations were suffering a loss of Rs 5,485 crore. The five corporations are Maharashtra State Electricity Board, Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, Textile Corporation and Economic Corporation.

Mr Kadam said the tribals are facing a huge backlog of Rs 6,000 crore and added that 65 lakh people are below the poverty line.

He also raised the issue of diverting money from the Employment Guarantee Scheme.

UNI JM NM VD ND1748