Team Herald
PANJIM: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday alleged that Goa is heading towards a debt trap due to of financial mismanagement by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government which believes in borrowings to mitigate its failures.
AAP accused the government of actually pushing Goans into the debt trap.
The party’s Goa Convener Rahul Mhambre, who is a chartered accountant, said the CAG report has clearly pointed out that the pending revenue collection by some departments as on March 31, 2019 was Rs 2,836 crore of which collection of Rs 861 crore has been pending for more than five years. Even though the government is to collect huge amounts of luxury tax from the hotel industry it waived off Rs 277 crore owed to it by the casino industry.
“What is worse is that the government besides waiving off Rs 277 crore to the casino industry has also permitted casinos to pay their annual recurring fee on monthly basis even though the government is facing a financial crisis,” he said.
He lauded the small business houses in Goa who despite having no support whatsoever from the government worked tirelessly towards making Atma Nirbhar Bharat while the cosy luxury industries did not even pay their luxury tax.
He said the CAG report has clearly indicated that the government is playing with the funds as it found even the purchase of equipment for Goa Medical College to be done without any checks and balances.
“The borrowing of funds to tide over a crisis will result in increase of debt of the State and make all Goans debt ridden,” he said adding that CAG has also noted that there is a heavy loss of revenue from luxury tax.
