Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister P K
Dhumal Friday blamed "defective formula" evolved by the 13th
Finance Commission for financial crunch and said its decision
to limit the expenditure on salaries, pension and interest
payment to 35 percent of the total budget had adversely hit
the state.
Replying to five-day debate on the general budget for
2011-12, Dhumal said Himachal has a very large number of
employees and the total expenditure on salaries, pension and
interests payment etc was about 60 percent.
The state government had apprised the Prime minister and
the Planning Commission about the fallout of this "adverse"
formula, he said.
"Planning Commission and Prime minister also agreed that
this formula was unfavourable to Himachal and assured to do
necessary corrections but nothing has been done so far," he
added.
Replying to issues raised by the opposition, Dhumal
claimed the performance of his government on developmental
front was far better than the previous Congress regime.
Quoting comparative figures about allocations and
physical targets achieved, the chief minister said the average
growth rate during past three years was 8.2 percent compared
to 7.8 percent at the national level, while allocation to
power sector was proposed at Rs 1,479 crore during next year
compared to total allocation of Rs 533.54 crore during five
year period of Congress government.
The capital investment during past three years was Rs
7,180.56 crore compared to Rs 3,852 crore during five years of
Congress rule, he said.
He said the government amended the hydropower policy and
besides upfront premium of Rs 20 lakh per MW, offers of free
power up to 23 percent were received in open bidding.
The government made necessary amendments in the power
policy and allowed cooperative societies of local youth to
execute power projects up to 2 MW capacity and 255 projects
were allocated to unemployed youth, Dhumal said.
Refuting the Congress allegation that the government was
going in for massive borrowings, he said that the total loan
liability was Rs 13,209 crore in 2002-03 when BJP demitted
office, which increased to Rs 21,241 crore during Congress
rule in 2007-08 and the total borrowings by the present
government during past three years were just Rs 2,812 crore.
Referring to opening of private universities, Dhumal
said the government had not provided land for any university
and announced that new universities would be allowed only in
the districts having no major institution.
Claiming that the government had taken steps to maintain
standards and regulate education sector, Dhumal said an Act
had already been passed for appointing a "regulatory
commission".
PTI
First Published: Friday, March 18, 2011, 21:27