Leader of the House and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today asserted that loans are essential for development of any State or for the country. There is no State or country like India, US or Japan without obtaining loans for its programs of development, he said.
Even 21 States being ruled by the BJP are taking loans, he informed the House on the debate on budget. He took serious exception to the BJP leaders G Kishan Reddy and K Lakshman for making baseless comments that the TRS Government turned the State into debt-ridden by taking more loans and failed to develop the State. “We have introduced several welfare schemes and development programs and pensions”, he informed.
The Chief Minister also challenged the BJP to state at least one State ruled by it in the country that did not take any loans. “Obtaining loans is the part of the budget and the government was obtaining loans within the given limits”, he said. The GDP of the Centre was put at Rs 167 lakh crore and the loans are pegged to about Rs 82 lakh crore which is about 49.5 per cent, he maintained. The GSDP of the State was about 22 per cent now and expected to increase by 16 per cent next year, he said.
The Chief Minister said the Centre was clearing off loan amount of Rs 8.76 lakh crore this year. KCR asked the BJP members to give names of those farmers, who are yet to get benefit from the government and will clear them in three to four days. “The government is ready to welcome constructive criticism and suggestions. In the last four years, we took several steps, including waiving off Rs 17,000 crore crop loans, taken up irrigation projects, released adequate funds for fee reimbursement, tide over power crisis to offer 24 hour power to farm sector, KCR informed.
The Chief Minister listed out the programs taken up by the government in the three-and-a-half years, including Mission Bhagiratha, Mission Kakatiaya, Kalyana Lakshmi, Shadi Mubarak, Pensions, schools for minorities and others. According to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the BJP-led government at the Centre has taken loans such as Rs 5,35,618 crore in 2016-17 financial year, 5,94,849 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 6,24,276 crore in 2018-19. State GSDP has 21 per cent loans and got Rs 9 crore loans under Udayama scheme, he said and asked the BJP members to maintain decency of the House. The Opposition should avoid taking potshots at the government for petty politics, he chided. (NSS)