CHENNAI: Finance Minister O Panneerselvam on Friday said that the AIADMK government was treading cautiously in its efforts to overcome the debt burden of the State.“An efficient government should ensure that the loans availed of are spent on useful schemes. Further, the extent of loan to be availed of should be within the limits and if any borrowing can be avoided, it should be avoided. The government headed by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is functioning on this basis and will tread cautiously as far as the debt burden is concerned,” Panneerselvam said replying to the discussion in the State Assembly on the revised budget for the year 2011-12.The Minister further said that the AIADMK government would encourage economic growth of the State to improve its fiscal position. Besides, the government would take steps to collect the tax revenue without any losses while curtailing the unnecessary expenditures.Referring to the concern expressed by many members over the debt burden of Rs 1,01,349 crore, the Minister said that the new government was just three months old and within this short span of time, the existing debt burden could not be reduced.Panneerselvam pointed out that to implement the welfare schemes announced in the budget, borrowing of Rs 17,261 crore had become unavoidable and that in the coming years, the borrowings would come down and the tax revenue was expected to go up due to bettter fiscal management.Pannerselvam also pointed out that the new government had to face a huge fiscal deficit of Rs 3,128 crore left behind by the previous DMK regime for the year 201o-11. Apart from this, the cumulative loss incurred by the 49 public sector undertakings of the Tamil Nadu government, which stood at Rs 8,023 crore in 2005-06, had gone up to Rs 32,273 crore due to the “mismanagement” of the DMK regime. Added to this, PSUs like Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDO) and transport corporations were also reeling under huge debt burden and were on the brink of collapse.Despite all these odds, the Chief Minister had shown her resolve to implement welfare schemes to the tune of Rs 8,900 crore by mobilising revenue resources from various quarters. Besides, the debt burden of the State had not exceeded 2.90 per cent of the GDP.Assuring that the CM would take steps to give reasonable rates to all agricultural produce without affecting the consumers, Panneerselvam said just like paddy was procured through the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, steps would be taken to procure pulses.
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