VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that there is no truth in the TDP’s propaganda that the YSRC dispensation has made debts to the tune of Rs 11 lakh crore, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath has said it is unfair on its part to attribute the debts made by all the previous governments of the State post-Independence to the present regime.
The YSRC government has made a total debt of Rs 1,36,508 crore in the last four years and all the details are available in the public domain, he averred.
Speaking to mediapersons at the State Secretariat on Thursday, Buggana said the debt growth rate which stood at 19.55% during the previous TDP regime, had declined to 15.46% in the YSRC government. When it comes to the fiscal deficit, the average deficit which stood at 6.58% during the TDP regime, had come down to 5.73% in the YSRC government, the Finance Minster explained.
Mentioning that large-scale misuse of government funds took place in the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation during the previous TDP regime, Buggana said the State government initiated the inquiry based on the information provided by the Central agencies. The skill development scam came to light because of the irregularities in payment of GST and investigation into the case began in 2017.
Design Tech did not submit the bills on how much expenditure was made out of the total Rs 370 crore released by the State government. A sum of Rs 250 crore was not found during the verification of skill development centres and calculation of the value of equipment there, which led to unearthing of the massive scam during the previous regime, he elaborated.
“Unlike the previous TDP regime, our government is providing skill development training to youth for three to five months,” he informed. Suggesting that Public Accounts Committee Chairman Payyavula Keshav maintain restraint until the settlement of the skill development case by the courts, Buggana said all the evidence collected during the case investigation will be submitted to the courts.