Punjab Cong seeks PM's intervention against state borrowings

Chandigarh, Jan 19 (PTI) Alarmed over "precarious financial situation" in Punjab and "wanton borrowings" by Akali-BJP government, Congress in Punjab today sought Pime Minister Manmohan Singh''s intervention for instructions to banks to hold detailed scrutiny before loan sanction to any public sector enterprise in the state.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, PCC President Amarinder Singh said "the public enterprises are being used as a window to raise loans from banks and financial institutions for even meeting day-to-day expenditure of the state government as its revenues fall short of all the committed expenditure on salaries, pension and interest repayment on loans."

The PCC President charged "in complete defiance of the thirteenth Finance Commission recommendations by bypassing the legislature and the audit jurisdiction of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the present (Akali-BJP) government was on a borrowing spree from some public sector and other banks for funding dubious projects based on arbitrary decisions."

He said that apart from these loans being utilized for purposes other than they are raised for it also brings up an important question of "eating up" a substantial part of the state's future revenues.

Besides, through this strategy, the state government is trying to steer clear of the legislative oversight and audit by the CAG, he said. .