BENGALURU: Opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar has accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of indulging in financial profligacy and pushing the state into a debt trap.
Siddaramaiah, who always takes pride in claiming to be a prudent and disciplined finance minister, has resorted to borrowing in a big way to drive his populist programmes, Shettar said in the debate on state budget.
“The Siddaramaiah government in the last four years has added Rs 2.42 lakh crore to the state’s debt burden, which is the highest compared to previous regimes. There is a debt burden of about Rs 32,000 to Rs 35,000 on every citizen of Karnataka due to the financial indiscipline of the Siddaramaiah government,” he said.
Giving a comparison with the previous regimes, Shettar said, the debt raised during the S M Krishna regime was Rs 35,902 crore. It was Rs 15,635 crore during the Dharam Singh government, H D Kumaraswamy government had raised a debt of Rs 3,545 crore and the B S Yeddyurappa government added Rs 25,653 crore to state’s debt burden.
Supplementary grants
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tabled the demand for supplementary grants for Rs 1,700 crore in the state assembly on Wednesday. It includes a grant of Rs 20 crore each to NIMHANS, Bengaluru, and Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences in Mysuru. A similar grant of Rs 20 crore each has been made for establishing super speciality hospitals in Vijayapura and Kolar districts.
Diluted Bill on compulsory rural service for doctors tabled
The State government on Wednesday tabled the Karnataka Compulsory Service Training by Candidates Completed Medical Courses (Amendment) Bill, 2017. The Bill seeks to lift the embargo on award of degrees by universities concerned to such candidates who have not undergone rural service by amending the 2012 and 2015 Acts.
It omits the concept of compulsory rural service for one year in government primary health centres or government hospitals and retains only the term compulsory rural service subsequent to the completion of graduate or post graduate medical courses before giving permanent registration.