By IANS,
Mumbai: Maharashtra’s debt touched Rs.231,000 crore during fiscal 2010-11, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan informed the state legislature Monday.
Chavan’s statement came a day before the state economic survey and two days before the budget for 2011-12 will be presented in the legislature.
He said that the debt burden – signifying the gap between revenues and expenditure – stood at Rs.231,000 crore for the current year, amounting to 23.68 percent of the state’s GDP.
“This percentage is less than the 26.1 percent limit set by the centre for state governments. A majority of the loans have been taken from the centre. We are prudently managing the finance,” Chavan said.
His statement came during the reply on the motion of thanks to the address by Governor K. Sankaranarayanan to the legislature last week.
Blaming the financial situation on the former Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party regime, Chavan said that during the past 12 years, the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party Democratic Front government has taken several measure to push the economy back on the tracks.
“For the last three years, the state has not taken a single overdraft and we are repaying all the loans and interests on schedule,” he said.
Chiding the opposition for misrepresenting the issue of state debt, Chavan said it did not mean that the state lagged in progress and prosperity, but borrowing was necessary for implementing various developmental projects.