BENGALURU: Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the state government is pushing Karnataka to debt as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is walking the tightrope trying to implement guarantee schemes without stressing on revenue mobilisation.
Bommai said Siddaramaiah has increased the loan limit to 2.85 per cent of the total budget, which may cross 3 per cent next year. “The government has failed in financial management, and has not been able to provide social justice which it had promised,” he said.
If financial management fails, the government will not have funds for the guarantee schemes. If the state faces a financial crisis, no development works can be taken up, he warned. The state government, while trying to hide its financial mismanagement by blaming the Union government, has not made any arrangements to mobilise revenues to take care of guarantee schemes and has to work hard to get financial resources.
The Seventh Pay Commission report is expected to be placed before the government soon and if approved, at least another Rs 20,000 crore will be needed for state government employees. “Have they kept funds for that eventuality,” he wondered. Though it has been said that the old pension scheme will be continued, the state government should have some clarity on how it will be implemented, he added.
He pointed out that of the budget amount allocated last year, only 54 per cent has been spent. “It was 48 per cent in the Minority and Backward Classes Department, 55 per cent in the agriculture department and 59 per cent in the health department. Even in PWD, they could spend only 59 per cent,” he said.