Hyderabad: The Centre has arrived at the opinion that the state government is near bankrupt and may no longer be able to service fresh loans, Union power minister Raj Kumar Singh said on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference and answering questions on the centrally owned Power Finance Corporation (PFC) not disbursing a loan sought by the state government for the 4,000 Mega Watt Yadadri Thermal Power Station, Singh said, “the loan sanction and disbursal was held back because Telangana’s finances are so bad that it cannot pay back the loans.”
Of the Rs 29,965-crore project, the loan component is Rs 16,070 crore from Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), and Rs 4,009 crore from the PFC. He added: “An analysis was done. Our information is that Telangana is near bankruptcy.”
Singh was accompanied by Union minister and state BJP president G. Kishan Reddy at the press meet.
Singh said with respect to issues related to Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management rules, that is a subject that is dealt with by the Union finance ministry. “If not within the FRBM limits, we cannot give loans. If there are concerns that the loans cannot be repaid, we will hold back on the lending,” he said.
He said that in the last ten years, the PFC and REC approved Rs 1,10,000 crore and Rs 1,57,306 crore as loans for Telangana of which, Rs 91,000 crore was disbursed by the PFC and Rs 1,37,606 crore were disbursed by the REC.
Singh the debunked BRS and state government claims that the Centre had mandated fixing of meters for agricultural connections. “That is a blatant lie. What we said was that every connection, other than agricultural ones, should have meters,” he said. He said the government was trying to divert attention as it was unable to give the promised 24-hour power to the farm sector.
