‘TDP crippled the State finances with abnormal borrowings and left a huge pile of debts’
Despite fall in revenue due to COVID-19, the Andhra Pradesh government has not gone back in implementing welfare schemes, said Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy.
“During the previous government, Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) between 2014-19 was 10.03%, whereas with the COVID effect, between 2019-21, only 1.3% has been registered, which resulted in a loss of ₹7,947.07 crore. During the first lockdown between April-May 2020, nearly ₹4,709.24 crore revenue loss occurred and also expected revenue fall during 2021-22,” said Mr. Rajendranath Reddy.
The State government had spent ₹7,130.19 crore for providing treatment, developing medical infra, testing, vaccination and many more irrespective of the Centre support during COVID-19.
Taking a dig at the Telugu Desam Party, he said that the previous government had crippled the State finances with abnormal borrowings and left a huge pile of debts. At the time of bifurcation, the total debt was only ₹1,18,544.34 crore, but between 2014-19 it increased to ₹2,57,509.85 crore. Besides these, through various corporations, the TDP government had left a debt of ₹1 lakh crore.
Borrowings
However, the current government was being accountable for every single borrowing, Mr. Rajendranath Reddy said and added that as on date ₹1.27 lakh crore had been borrowed and ₹1.05 lakh crore was credited into the accounts of farmers and women during COVID crisis as financial support without resorting to any corruption. He said that all the borrowings had been done as per the FRBM limits, where the Union government permitted an additional borrowings of ₹20,000 crore under Atma Nirbhar Bharat mission.
The Minister stated that the government had been prioritising public welfare schemes, and spending accordingly, while even paying interests to the borrowings of previous governments and clearing the pending arrears left by them.
Drawing comparison between two governments, he said that N. Chandrababu Naidu had promised to waive all the farm loans which were ₹87,612 crore, but only waived ₹15,279.42 crore in five phases. However in the last two years, the State government had spent ₹83,102.18 crore towards farmer’s welfare. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had spent ₹17,029 crore for Rythu Bharosa, ₹1,105.89 crore for Zero-Interest crop loans, ₹3,788.25 crore on crop insurance, ₹1,055.19 crore on input subsidy and ₹331.58 crore on Matsakara Bharosa, Mr. Reddy claimed.
Similarly prioritising the education sector, the government had spent ₹25,914.13 crore by implementing various schemes such as Amma Vodi, Vasati Deevena, Vidya Deevena, Goru Muddha and Vidya Kanuka. Towards fee reimbursement, the previous government had spent only ₹13,420.65 crore leaving a debt of ₹2,012.03 crore. As part of women empowerment, the current government had spent ₹17,608.43 crore through schemes like Aasara, Cheyutha, while the TDP government had betrayed them by promising to waive loans about ₹21,479 crore, Mr. Rajendranath Reddy said.
Health
The State government had also prioritised the health sector by revamping YSR Aarogya Sri and increased the number of treatments to 2346 by spending ₹4,342.05 crore for treating 12.48 lakh patients. The government was also providing financial assistance to those discharged patients during their recovery period through Aarogya Aasara and further rolled out 1066 new ambulances breathing life into 108,104 services.
While the TDP government provided pensions to only 39 lakh people until six months before the polls, the current government has been door delivering pensions to about 59.82 lakh people. The previous government had only spent ₹26,403.57 crore in a span of five years, the current government had met an expenditure of ₹37,461.89 crore in just 27 months. In addition to these, the government had also stood by the weaver community by supporting with ₹575.87 crore in the last two years, while it was only ₹259.04 crore between 2014-19 during the TDP rule, the Minister claimed.
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