Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday wrote a letter to Governor Banwarilal Purohit on the issue of borrowings by his government stating that a "mammoth" amount of Rs 27,000 crore went into repaying interest on debts that were inherited. In response to a letter, Mann wrote that his government borrowed around Rs 47,000 crore — Rs 32,447 crore in 2022-23 and Rs 14,660 crore from April to August 2023. He also said that the lingering issues left behind by the previous government were dealt with on priority by his government.
"A mammoth amount of Rs 27,016 crore went into interest repayment on the debt which your government inherited," he said, sharing the data on the funds spent out of the borrowings.
"During my tenure as chief minister of Punjab, lingering issues left behind by previous governments were dealt with on priority... We used both debt and our own revenue resources to fund organisations or schemes ignored by my predecessors, utilised the new debt to create capital assets and undertake development activities in the state," Mann wrote.
Last month, the Punjab Chief Minister had urged Purohit to take up the issue of the pending Rural Development Fund (RDF) amounting to Rs 5,637.40 crore with the president and the prime minister.
Replying to Mann, the Governor pointed out that he learnt that the debt of Punjab rose by about Rs 50,000 crore during the Aam Aadmi Party regime and sought details of utilisation of this "huge amount" so that he could convince the prime minister that the money was properly utilised.
Mann said he has given an account to the governor of each penny spent.