Newly-floated regional political party, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has demanded the ruling BJP-led Sarbananda Sonowal government in Assam to publish a whitepaper regarding the financial condition of the state during their tenure.
AJP has alleged that Assam is heading towards a major financial crisis. AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan said that the current government has broken all records as far as taking a loan is concerned.
“The financial condition of the state is in pathetic condition now. The government is trying to cover it up with sweet talks. As of now, the state has a burden of loan amounting Rs 81,000 crore and out of that Rs 46,000 crore has been taken since 2016 when BJP came to power,” Bhuyan was quoted as saying in a media report.
“So, we demand that the state government must publish a whitepaper with the financial details so that the public come to know about the reality,” he said.
He further said that till the BJP came to power in the state the loan amount was Rs 35,000 crore. “So, whoever forms the government in 2021, will have to bear the huge burden of this loan amount,” the AJP leader added.
Assam will have to pay huge interests: AJP
Giving a break-up of the amount of the interests the Assam government will have to pay in the coming years, he said: “Rs 6500 crore in 2021-22, Rs 7277 crore in 2022-23, Rs 8151 crore in 2023-24, Rs 9192 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 10224 crore in 2025-26.”
“If the financial condition of the state is well off, then why the government has taken such a huge amount of loan?” he said.
Bhuyan also pointed out that with the BJP government coming to power in the Centre, Assam’s special state status was cancelled. “As a result, the state has deprived of getting around Rs 9,000 crore in a year since 2015,” the AJP general secretary added.
Further, Bhuyan said that the state government is spending a huge amount of money on advertisements and schemes targeting the voters instead of focusing on the real issues of development.
