Cong MLA raises posers on Rs 230 cr VVIP guest house
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, July 26 2022:
Opposition MLA K
Meghachandra has questioned
the state government on why
a financially unsound state
like Manipur had to borrow
Rs 230 crore to construct a
VVIP guest house, instead of
setting up a small scale industry
to generate jobs for youths
and help increase the revenue
generation of the state.
The opposition MLA raised
the issue during the general
discussion for Budget Estimate
2022-23 on the second
day of the second session of
the 12th Manipur Legislative
Assembly.
MLA Meghachandra remarked
that the budget lacks
a lot of details and is in deficit
of Rs 2748.47 crore, while the
gross borrowing is too high.
As such, he questioned the
practicality of borrowing
Rs 230 crore out of Rs 840
crore from Housing and Urban
Development Corporation
(HUDCO), to construct a VVIP
guest house to accommodate
President, Prime Minister
and union ministers as and
when they visit the state.
These VVIP guests can stay
at Imphal Hotel and other
hotels established by private
companies.
The money generated
from investing in a small
scale industry could generate
income and the borrowed
amount could be paid back
through the revenue earned
from employment of youth.
Instead the huge money is
being put into a VVIP guest
house, which would be rarely
visited by VVIPs on a trip to
the state, he pointed out.
Regarding the budget,
Meghachandra said that it is
not people-friendly, with the
borrowing rate much higher
than before.
The debt is also
much higher than before.
The
budget provides no solution
on how to improve the state's
economy.
In 2017, the outstanding
physical liability was
Rs 9035.33 crore with internal
debt outstanding at Rs
5300.14 crore.
In 2022-23, it
has been raised to Rs 11,611.35
crore, which is shocking.
Meanwhile, in 2017-18, the
borrowing amount from open
market was Rs 6000 crore,
while this time, it is Rs 1800
crore.
Thus, the liability of
the budget has increased putting
the physical liability at Rs
16,039.49 crore, indicating
that the people are in debt and
the state is facing a financial
crisis.
The budget also provides
no remedy to recover
the financial impact from the
Covid-19 pandemic in the last
two years, in addition to almost
no mention of solutions
for the agriculture sector, War
on Drugs campaign.
In other
words, the budget has no
reformative policies for the
mentioned issues.
Meghachandra then said
that it is a well known fact
that vehicle carrying goods
along the national highways
are taxed illegally but the government
still has yet to live
up to its promise to deploy
a highway protection force.
Furthermore, thousands of
trucks are transporting timbers
along the roads of Churachandpur,
Moreh, Sugnu
and Yairipok in the dark of
the night but the Forest Department
has failed to take up
any action.
The Department
cannot hope to save the environment
by only focusing
on mountainous parts of the
valley area while ignoring the
remote areas, he remarked.
The opposition MLA also
stated that the budget does
not reflect the BJP's promise
to generate jobs for the 1.5 lakh
youths in the state, let alone
anything related to development
and welfare of women.
The Housing Scheme for all
has become redundant due
to ineffective implementation
and the possible cancellation
of the budgetary allocation
for development projects in
the budget this year makes it
hostile to the people.
"Instead, it seems efforts are being made to borrow money by increasing the GSDP while following the RBI guidelines.
Any loan is borrowed from the market.
As such, the state government could borrow from the centre.
This year, however, it seems the government is targeting to borrow Rs 1800 crore from the open market, as per the budget.
Any borrowing carries an interest and the money could be repaid with the taxes collected from the people.
Thus, the government should make it clear to the people where and how it is planning to utilise the borrowed money," Meghachandra asserted.
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