Loksatta opposes 'squandering' of resources for loan waiver

The Andhra Pradesh Government should make budgetary allocation for fulfilling its farm loan waiver promise, and should not sell off or mortgage its assets or pledge future revenue to raise the funds for this purpose, Loksatta Party's state chief D V V S Varma said today.
In a statement here, Varma faulted Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for government's plan to sell red sanders and tapping revenue from mining of sand and scarce minerals to implement his election-time pledge to write off the farm loans.
The government yesterday announced that it would waive farm loans of up to Rs 1.5 lakh per family, which is likely to impose a financial burden of Rs 35,000 crore on the cash-starved exchequer.

"The government should endeavour to build upon its assets and not fritter them away for programmes like loan waivers," Varma said. "It should find budgetary resources by cutting down on non-plan and wasteful expenditure, arresting leakages in tax collection and applying brakes on populist schemes."
He also said that the state's future would be in jeopardy if the government gambles with its assets.