Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar has virtually ruled out that the State’s borrowings are being utilized to create physical infrastructures. He instead shot back at the former Congress government stating that the present coalition is repaying huge loans borrowed by the previous government.
“I (government) have been paying loans taken by the then Congress government. Our loans are within limits and we ensure that all the needs of the State are met,” he said.
He reiterated that the government has spent over 2,000 crore on physical and social infrastructure, higher than the central government’s fund allocation of Rs 1,054 crore in the recent past. “If I speak about bridges in the State, the Congress has done nothing in the last eight years. They denied giving attention to development projects like creating infrastructure and education among other important sectors, which we envisaged,” Parsekar, who holds the Finance portfolio, stated.
The CM justified that simply showing concern towards any crisis would not resolve a problem and one has to act on it.
Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (GSIDC) Chairman Dr Pramod Sawant declined to speak on the excessive expenditure. “We are managing. I don’t want to comment,” he said.
The government slipped into an acute financial crisis after the highest revenue generating industry – mining – faced a blanket ban in September 2012. If this was not enough, tourism also dropped only to revive in the last two years.
The government claims to have been spending for proper implementation of various welfare schemes like Laadli Laxmi, Griha Aadhar, DSSS, SC/ST, scholarships, etc in addition to physical infrastructure projects under various departments. In the recent Budget, the BJP-led coalition even increased Griha Adhar support to Rs 1500 while earlier, it had raised DSS pension to Rs 2,000 and another Rs 500 for medical expenses.
