Kannur: Reacting to the allegations of the opposition that the state has been put in a debt trap, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that Kerala is way behind Congress-ruled Rajasthan and BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh in terms of debts as per the report of the Reserve Bank. The opposition keeps spreading lies but the statistics will tell them the truth, the chief minister said while addressing the media in Kannur.
It is stated in the Reserve Bank of India’s publication ‘State Finances Study of Budget’ that Kerala’s debts are 31.2 percent of the revenue in the financial year of 2019-20. But the debt of Rajasthan is 33.1 percent and that of Punjab is 40.3 percent. UP’s debt is 34 percent, West Bengal’s debt is 37.1 percent and Bihar’s is 31.9 percent of the revenue. Compared to this, Kerala is not in a debt trap, the CM said.
When UDF government completed tenure in 2006, Kerala’s debt was 35 percent of the revenue. Later, when LDF government completed term in 2011, the debt dropped to 31.8 percent. Many liabilities of the UDF government were pending in 2016 when the next LDF government came to power. However, even after taking up all these liabilities, the debt was only 30.2 percent, the CM said.
Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the central agencies are not making strong interventions in Kerala. But he criticised the intervention of central agencies in other states. However, LDF does not change its stand on this matter, Pinarayi Vijayan added.
