BJP govt pushing Haryana towards "bankruptcy", says Hooda

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday said the BJP-JJP coalition government in Haryana was pushing the state towards "bankruptcy". The leader of opposition in the state assembly, Hooda also charged the state government with "fiscal mismanagement" and claimed that the state was "failing behind" on all key financial parameters and being pushed into a deep debt trap.

"The state is failing on all key financial parameters and it is heading towards bankruptcy... Fiscal mismanagement of the BJP government has pushed the state into a debt trap," he claimed and demanded that the state government issue a white paper on its mounting debt. Hooda said the outstanding debt which stood at Rs 60,300 crore in 2013-14 had now risen to Rs 1.98 lakh crore. Till 2013-14, the ratio of debt against Gross State Domestic Product was 15.10 which now jumped to 21.14, he said.

This increase in the debt to GSDP ratio demolishes all arguments that the BJP has in its defence as they had claimed that the debt had increased in line with the economic growth, said Hooda. "Haryana was earlier counted among the country's rich states, today it is in the list of states in deep debt," he claimed.

The proportion of total government expenditure on loan and interest payments is increasing due to rising debt. In 2016-17, 18.51 per cent of the total debt was used to repay the debt, which has now increased to 28.61 per cent, he said. The two-time chief minister warned the state government against taking loans by "mortgaging the pride" of Haryana.

The government should come up with a time-bound, clear plan to control the ever-increasing revenue deficit and cut fiscal deficit, he said. Hooda further said the fiscal deficit was 2.07 per cent during his term in 2013-14 which has now increased to 2.82 per cent in 2019-20.

Similarly, the revenue deficit which was only 0.97 per cent in 2013-14 has increased to 1.76 per cent in 2019-20, Hooda said. "Our government brought hundreds of big projects, metro, railway lines, AIIMS, IITs, IIMs, medical colleges, power plants, nuclear plants and hundreds of big industries were established during our government," he said.

"The BJP government must tell the state why they took massive debts when no institution, investment or industry was established in Haryana under BJP rule," he asked the BJP-led government. Hooda also attacked the state government over the issue of "farmers' distress" in the state.

"Farmers are falling into debt trap due to the government's indifference towards them as they are left to fend for themselves in the wake of crop damages suffered due to inclement weather," he said and demanded compensation for the damage at the earliest. Hooda took on the government over the issue of "rampant" paper leaks and alleged that every paper, from the board exams to the recruitment exams, was being leaked during the BJP rule..

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