Though the Jagan Mohan Reddy Government is reaching its last days, the ruling dispensation is indiscriminately borrowing funds and is spending thousands of crores in the name of revenue expenditure, TDP official spokesman, Neelayapalem Vijay Kumar said on Tuesday.
Vijay Kumar told media persons that though the monthly revenue expenditure is generally Rs 5,000 cr but in January this year the expenditure has crossed a whopping Rs 10,000 cr mark. Though there is no additional expenditure for payment of interest, subsidies, pensions, salaries and other expenses why the expenditure has gone so high, Vijay Kumar asked.
The TDP spokesman expressed surprise as to why an additional Rs 4,000 cr was borrowed and an additional expenditure of Rs 4,500 cr was spent in January. For what reason this amount was spent though on record it is being projected as revenue expenditure and whether the payments were made to the contractors or for the yesmen of the ruling dispensation, he questioned.
If there is any increase in the government expenditure it should be either for launching a new project or for some important scheme, but the State Government expenditure has been doubled in January despite no such effort being made in January, Vijay Kumar pointed out. Explaining what exactly the revenue expenditure means, the TDP spokesman said that the daily expenditure for coffee, tea, petrol, diesel, and other such expenditure is called revenue expenditure besides the payments made for the contractors.
As per the information provided for the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for January, the loan raised for January is Rs 8,484 cr while the revenue expenditure is Rs 10,368 cr, he mentioned which is more than Rs 4,500 cr more than regular expenditure. The State Government is simply washing off its hands by showing it under revenue expenditure, Vijay Kumar said.
Demanding a proper response from Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, Vijay Kumar gave all the minute details of the payments made by the State Government in different months till December last year and January this year. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) records clearly show that the State Government has raised only Rs 6,550 cr in January, Vijay Kumar said and asked from where the remaining Rs 2,300 cr was borrowed and to whom the payments were made.
When the election Code of Conduct was almost on the way, why such a huge amount was borrowed in a hurry and why payments were made in haste, Vijay Kumar asked. Are these facts not presented before the public, he said and stated that the TDP’s appeal to CAG is that instead of simply dismissing it as revenue expenditure the CAG should ask for the minute details. If the details of the expenditure spent in a single month do not come into the open, what is the use of CAG audit, he asked.
Pointing out that bonds worth Rs 7,000 cr were issued by the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) just five days ago, Vijay Kumar said that the APMDC is not allowed to spend this amount and the State Government is going to spend this amount. Since the Model Code of Conduct is already in force how the State Government can take such a huge amount of Rs 7,000 cr, he said and demanded the State Government to come out with all the details on the loans raised from the RBI and other sources besides this Rs 7,000 cr.
Making an appeal to the Election Commission to immediately focus on this, Vijaya Kumar requested the poll panel to control the Government expenditure. This Rs 7,000 cr is not a revenue to the Government from any source but amount raised through bonds by the APMDC, he said and demanded the CAG too to respond immediately on this since the Model Code of Conduct is already in force.