Assam's Debt Soars to Rs 1.52 Lakh Cr: Congress Demands Fiscal Transparency

Guwahati, Oct 16 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday demanded a white paper from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on the financial health of the state, alleging huge outstanding on salary account and contractors' payments.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress leader Ripun Bora claimed the BJP government has accumulated a debt of Rs 85,980 crore in the last three years, taking the total borrowings of the state to a whopping Rs 1,52,000 crore.

"The Congress demands that the government must publish a white paper on the exact financial position of Assam under CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's rule from 2021 to 2024. It must show total revenue receipts along with funds received from the Centre under different heads," he said.

Amount received from loans, expenses on different heads and sectors, reasons for drastic cut on capital expenditure, and reasons for repeated increase of VAT on petrol and diesel must also be included in the white paper, he added.

"In 2016, after ex-CM Tarun Gogoi continuously governed the state for 15 years, the total debt of Assam was Rs 35,000 crore. During 2016-2021, the debt rose to Rs 66,020.65 when Sarbananda Sonowal was the CM.

"But from 2021 to 2024 in the tenure of CM Sarma, the debt increased to Rs 1,52,000 crore, that is an increase of Rs 85,980 crore," Bora said.

As a result, the state has to pay an amount of Rs 7,299.18 crore as interest annually on this debt, he claimed.

"Due to financial mismanagement and to meet heavy expenses on beneficiary schemes on political consideration, the liability to the contractors and suppliers bills have risen to Rs 26,000 crore till March 2024. This happened due to the financial crisis," the Congress leader asserted.

He also alleged that there is an outstanding to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore on account of salary to daily wage employees, Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, mid-day meal cooks and institutions running on grants-in-aid and financial assistance systems.

Bora said the revenue expenditure was Rs 56,899 crore in 2018-19 and it rose to Rs 1,01,814.65 crore in 2022-23, constituting 84.88 per cent of Rs 1,19,952.20 crore -- the total expenditure of the state, and left only 15 per cent for development purpose.

"The government has no other means to meet these huge expenses except loans. It is paying the expenses of individual beneficiary schemes from loans to keep them intact as vote banks of the BJP.

"As per the CAG report of 2022-23, the capital expenditure, which is for the creation of fixed infrastructure like bridges, roads and buildings, decreased by 20.5 per cent from Rs 20,125.83 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 15,999.71 crore in 2022-23. This drastic curtailment is due to the acute financial crisis," he said.

Bora further said that Assam's revenue deficit soared by more than four-fold in just one year to Rs 12,072.35 crore in 2022-23 from Rs 2,732.77 crore in 2021-2022.