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Haryana CM Khattar accuses Hooda of making 'wrong statement' on state-debt

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday accused Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda of making a "wrong statement" on the state's outstanding debt

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Press Trust of India Chandigarh

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday accused Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda of making a "wrong statement" on the state's outstanding debt.

Haryana has a debt of more than Rs 415,000 crore while the amount of debt on Haryana in 2021-22 has been shown at Rs 239,000 crore in the Comptroller Accountant General report, the Opposition leader had said.

Alleging that Hooda's statement "was beyond facts", Khattar said a debt of Rs 227,697 crore was recorded in the Haryana government's account books.

If the difference of this amount is also taken out, then only a difference of Rs 12,000 crore is visible -- the state does not have a debt of Rs 415,000 crore in any respect, Khattar said on the concluding day of the Haryana assembly's three-day Winter Session.

 

The chief minister said the state's debt position should always be disclosed correctly and the facts placed before the House be correct.

Khattar, who also holds the Finance department portfolio, apprised the House that Haryana's economic condition was better than other states.

During the Covid period, the Centre had fixed the loan limit at 4 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) while the Haryana government managed to maintain the cap up to 2.99 per cent.

According to the Centre's norms, Haryana could have taken a loan of Rs 40,661 crore during the Covid period, but took Rs 30,000 crore, he informed the House.

Responding to another issue, Khattar said no Litigation Policy - 2022 had been formulated in view of delays in land acquisition due to dissatisfaction over the acquisition of about 1,810 acres for the development of Industrial Model Township in Kasan, Kukrola and Sehrawan villages of Manesar tehsil.

The policy's objective is to ensure rapid development with the voluntary participation of landowners. For this, the landowners who choose not to challenge the land acquisition and accept the approved amount will be adequately compensated, he said.

Khattar also said a new system had been formulated to increase the powers of new panchayats.

Panchayats, block committees, zilla parishads, municipalities, municipal councils and municipal corporations will also be given more autonomy, he added.

The House also passed the Haryana Appropriation (No 4) Bill, 2022.

The sums authorised to be paid and applied from and out of the consolidated funds of Haryana using this will be appropriated for the services and purposes expressed in the schedule in relation to the financial year ending March 31.

The bill seeks to provide for Rs 12,215,730,000 from the state's consolidated fund to meet the supplementary grants made by the assembly for the expenditure of the 2022-23 financial year in pursuance of Articles 204(1) and 205 of the Constitution.

Two more bills -- the Haryana Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the Haryana Municipal (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022, were also passed.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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First Published: Dec 29 2022 | 9:40 AM IST

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