| A press release from the state finance minister C Ponnaiyan reeled out statistics on the state of finance the present government had to inherit from the earlier DMK government and the steps taken to recover from the near bankrupt situation. |
| When the AIADMK government assumed office in May 2001, it had to reckon with immediate unpaid expenditure liabilities of Rs 4,000 crore which the previous DMK government had failed to meet. |
| In addition, the pay and pension arrears of the government employees amounting to Rs 1,800 crore had been impounded by the previous DMK government for payment beyond March 31, 2003," Ponnaiyan said in the press release. |
| He said that the DMK government had also drawn advance from the lignite royalty accruing up to November 2003, amounting to Rs 250 crore. |
| "The bus transport corporations could not be run as there were no funds to even meet the diesel supply payment. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board was bankrupt facing a deficit of Rs 5,000 crore, including bills to central utilities to the tune of Rs 1,962 crore, which was kept pending," Ponnaiyan pointed out. |
| "The situation today is very different with the bills being paid promptly at the treasury without stoppages and all expenditure commitments being made promptly. The financial health of bus transport corporation and ` has been restored," he added. |
| Ponnaiyan said that the finance minister is not unaware of the crisis that Tamil Nadu was pushed into in 2001-02, following the recommendations of the Eleventh Finance Commission. |
| "Tamil Nadu suffered a loss of Rs 781 crore in 2001-02 due to the reduction of its share in the divisible pool of central taxes from 6.637 per cent to 5.385 per cent," he said. |
| Ponnaiyan also pointed out that the actual receipts of the share of central taxes were lower by Rs 512 crore than the promised share in the central budget. |
| Commenting on the fiscal discipline of the state he said: "It is only Tamil Nadu along with four other states which have a Fiscal Responsibility Act. This reflects fully the state government's commitment to proper fiscal management and fiscal discipline." |
| He said that the state has also managed to step up plan outlay from Rs 5,750 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 7,000 crore in 2003-04. The target plan outlay for the current fiscal is Rs 8,001 crore. |
| "It is unfortunate that the union finance minister has deliberately chosen to brush aside these facts and cast aspersions on the state government,"he said. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard