PANJIM: Rubbishing allegations by GPCC president Girish Chodankar on financial position of the State, Power Minister Nilesh Cabral said that loans are taken by every government for capital expenditure.
Cabral stated that the current BJP govt led by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has taken less loans compared to Congress governments.
“Congress borrowed even at a time when the mining was at its peak and generated huge revenue,” he said.
Giving details of comparison with the State’s budget and loans, Cabral said the BJP govt had borrowed just 12% of its actual budget while the previous governments had borrowed almost 18.5% every year.
“We have not taken loans to pay salaries but for infrastructure and developmental works, which has become a necessity,” he said.
Stating that the govt is allowed for Rs 2,600 cr loans by RBI, he said the State has taken just Rs 1,000 crore in the last seven months.
Meanwhile, Cabral informed that Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has not yet paid the first instalment of Rs 1 crore towards municipal market’s pending electricity dues. Oct 16 was the due date.
“I have sent a note to CM requesting him to cut Rs 1 crore from annual grants of Rs 5.5cr which government gives to CCP,” informed Cabral.
Cabral informed that his department is contemplating removing unit slabs for calculation of electricity bills to all consumers in the State.
The minister said the recovery in the power sector would continue as per the JERC norms. “Rs 382 cr is outstanding and we will recover it,” he said.
