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Punjab is soon going to plunge into fund crunch, thanks to free power worth Rs 20,200 crore and free travel for women worth Rs 700 crore. The state finance department recently red-flagged this issue during a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann after the Lok Sabha election results.
In a presentation prepared by the finance department, it was pointed out that if some immediate measures are not taken, the state may find it difficult to pay salaries and power subsidy bill as the Centre is not supporting the state. It was stated that the state needed to make sure that they took the Central assistance seriously, failing which the state would not be able to spend any money from the capital expenditure, sources told The Indian Express. However, sources said the CM was in no mood to do away with the power subsidy.
In another presentation given by the department of power to the CM on Thursday, sources said that he was told how the power department was already passing through a crisis, with power demand rising to an unprecedented high due to free 300 units of power and how at least one lakh families had split the meters and the department had to install at least one lakh new meters. This had not only increased the load on the power utility to meet a high demand of power but had also burnt a hole in the pocket of the state exchequer.
The officials of the power department are learnt to have told the CM that at least 35 to 40 per cent big farmers, who had even 50 tubewells installed in their fields, were enjoying the freebie of power while the state was suffering. A demand for rationalisation of this subsidy was also made to the CM, said a source.
“The CM has been told about all this. He was also told that this subsidy had bled the exchequer but had not translated into votes. It is a political decision whether he wants to do something about the subsidy. But the government can save some money by doing away with subsidy given to consumers up to 7 KW load given by former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi,” said a functionary, who was privy to the meeting.
“The CM was told that the power utility was like an elephant which can bear a lot of burden. But if it collapses, then nobody can do anything,” said an official.
The CM was also told that the state was not getting much of Central assistance. Under PM Shri Yojana, the state would have got Rs 273 crore every year for the facelift of 241 schools but the state government had not signed any MOU with the Centre as the government wanted to set up its own brand of schools of eminence.
Last year, the Centre had refused to pay Rs 650 crore to the state government under National Health Mission and this year the amount would be over Rs 1,000 crore. The Centre has not paid this amount as it wants the state government to follow the Centre’s pattern on the facade of the dispensaries. However, the state government has its own design on the Aam Aadmi Clinics. Already, the Centre owes Rs 6,767 crore towards RDF (Rural Development Fund) and MDF (Mandi Development Fund). The state has moved the Supreme Court. The state has also not got Rs 1,100 crore towards the special assistance for infrastructure development.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 22-06-2024 at 08:47 IST
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