Before the last assembly elections in Telangana, the Congress party in Telangana led by A Revanth Reddy used to accuse the then Bharat Rashtra Samithi of indulging in heavy borrowings and pushing the state into a debt trap.
Even in the white paper on financial position released after coming to power, the Revanth Reddy government explained how the previous BRS government had resorted to indiscriminate borrowings.
But according to the latest reports, the Revanth Reddy government, too, is relying heavily on borrowings.
On Tuesday, it took a fresh borrowing of Rs.3,000 crore through market loans which has pushed the State’s debt to a staggering Rs.50,118 crore in just eight months.
The Congress has accumulated nearly Rs 35,000 crore in debt during the last five months alone, against the projected Rs 69,572.48 crore in the current financial year to be sourced through market borrowings, Central government loans, deposit transactions and other loans. If this trend continues, the debt might exceed budget estimates, warn experts.
According to a report in a BRS-backed daily, despite the significant loans, there has been little visible progress in terms of infrastructure or development projects undertaken by the State government in the last eight months.
“Protests from contractors, sarpanches and other stakeholders over unpaid bills underscore the government’s failure to clear major pending payments,” it said.
While Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka defended the borrowings, claiming monthly interest payments of Rs.7,000 crore, data from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) suggests otherwise.
“The government has paid approximately Rs.19,632 crore towards loans and interest payments from December 2023 to June 2024, averaging about Rs 2,804 crore per month, far less than the claimed amount,” the daily said in its report,
