Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday dismissed Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's "Jan Samvad" interaction programme with villagers, alleging his government had been "sleeping" for the past nine years, and remembering villagers now when polls were approaching. Khattar began his three-day "Jan Samvad" programme on Sunday during which he is touring several villages of Bhiwani district and interacting with villagers and addressing their grievances. "For nine years, the government kept sleeping and was remembering the villages when elections were near)," the former chief minister told reporters here when asked about the programme.
Haryana goes to polls next year. Lok Sabha elections are also due next year. Hooda, who is also the Leader of Opposition, targeted the BJP-JJP government over "mounting debt". He alleged that the government is presenting misleading figures on debts "so that the public does not get to know the real situation". He said the government itself is presenting contradictory figures. "For example, in 2020-21, the government presented an estimated budget of Rs 1,55,645 crore. Later, it was revised to 1,53,384 crores..Similarly, the estimated budget in 2022-23 was 1,77,235 crores, which was revised to 1,64,807 crores. "If we talk about loans, in 2020-21, the government said that the state has a debt of Rs 2,27,697 crore. Whereas in the CAG report, the debt was stated to be Rs 2,79,967 crores and according to the RBI, this debt was Rs 2,62,331 crores.
"Similarly, in 2022-23, the government showed a debt of Rs 2,43,701 crore, whereas according to the RBI, this debt was Rs 2,87,266 crore. That is, a difference of 44,513 crores was seen in the official data itself," he said. Hooda alleged that the government every time inflates the budget figures, which later come down to the revised and actual budget to "mislead" the public. While Khattar had recently charged Hooda with presenting wrong debt figures, the Congress leader said he stands firm on his point even today. "The state has a debt of more than Rs 4 lakh crore, including internal debt and all liabilities. The government itself has said in the budget of 2023-24 that the state has a debt of Rs 2,85,885 crores. The CAG report stated liabilities of Rs 36,809 crore (by March 2022), which increases by Rs 3000 to Rs 4000 crore every year. Therefore, as of today, these liabilities are around 44,000 crores," he stated.
"Similarly, various departments of the Haryana government owe Rs 46,193 crore to discoms towards electricity bills and unpaid subsidies," he said quoting newspaper reports. "State Public Enterprises have a debt of Rs 47,211 crore. By including all kinds of liabilities, the total debt comes to Rs 4,23,229 crore," he claimed. He said this is why the Congress is repeatedly demanding that the government issue a white paper on fiscal situation. "But they hesitate because they know they stand exposed.".The former chief minister pointed out that the debt figures on the state are also worrying because the debt burden on the state has increased by four times from 2014-15 to 2022-23, while the SGDP has increased by only 2.1 times during this period.
