look news india
Shimla, September 6 (HS). The issue of financial crisis in Himachal Pradesh is spread across the country. The state government has been able to pay the salaries of the employees with a delay of five days. The pension of pensioners will be given with a delay of 10 days. To overcome the financial crisis, the Sukhu government has taken a loan of 21,366 crores through various means from 15 December 2022 to 31 July 2024. In this, the maximum loan of 17,472 crores has been taken from the open market.
The figure of the loan taken during the last 19 and a half months of the Sukhu government of the state has come to light. Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu told the House in a written reply on Friday that after assuming power, his government has taken a loan of 21366 crores through various means from 15 December 2022 to 31 July 2024. In this, the highest loan of 17472 crores has been taken from the open market. During this period, a loan of 2527 crores has been taken from the Central Government and 1352 crores from NABARD. Apart from this, a loan of 10 crores has been taken from the National Housing Bank and 5 crores from the National Cooperative Development Corporation.
In response to a joint question by Karsog MLA Deepraj and Jogindernagar MLA Prakash Rana, the Chief Minister said that during his tenure, the government has taken a total gross loan of Rs. 21,366 crore. He also said that an amount of Rs. 5,864 crore has been returned as repayment of the previous loan. In this way, the state government has taken a net loan of Rs. 5864 crore. The Chief Minister said that this loan is being spent by the state government on various developmental works through the budget.
It is noteworthy that Chief Minister Sukhu had recently informed the House that during the financial year 2022-23, from 15 December 2022 to 31 March 2023, the state government took a loan of Rs 6897 crore. Similarly, a loan of Rs 10521 crore was taken in the financial year 2023-24. The state government took a loan of Rs 3948 crore during the financial year 2024-25 from 1 April 2024 to 31 July 2024. Due to the deterioration in the financial condition of the state, the state government employees have received their salary five days late. Pension will be credited to the accounts of pensioners 10 days late. The severity of the economic crisis on the state government makes it clear that the state government employees have received their salary five days late. Pension will be credited to the accounts of pensioners 10 days late. The state government has clarified that this step has been taken to save interest on the loan taken for the salaries of the employees. Due to this, the government will not have to pay interest of Rs 3 crore. In this way, the government will save Rs 36 crore in a year.
