NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 7
The better financial discipline of the state government under BJP rule has helped it to bring down the revenue deficit from 27.1 percent in 1990 under Congress regime to 16.9 percent now, claimed a senior minister on the last day for general discussion in the budget session of the state Assembly here on Friday.
Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said that the revenue of the state had risen without any increase in taxes. Also, its growth rate was higher than the national GDP rate, he said.
Patel said, “Because of financial discipline we have not taken overdraft in the last16 years. Gujarat has been a revenue surplus state for the last eight years. The State’s income was Rs 20,000 crore in 2004-2005 and now is Rs 1.49 lakh crore, that too without increasing any tax.” He went on to say, “Earlier during Congress government, the revenue deficit was 27.1 % in 1990. Under our government, it has reduced to 16.9%. State’s debt was 13.50 per cent in 2001-2002, which has come down to 8.47 per cent.”
Patel said, “Gujarat is recording much higher GDP growth to the national average. The national average is 6.1% and it is10.7% in Gujarat which is 2% higher than any other state.”
On Wednesday, Congress MLA from Danilimda Shailesh Parmar had alleged that the BJP-ruled government was not spending funds on developmental work, even as the debt was increasing. Parmar, also the deputy leader of the opposition, claimed that the state economy had dwindled, debts had increased and funds for development works lay unutilised. In his speech, he compared debts under Congress governments with those under the current BJP government. He said that it was Rs 12,999 crore in 1995, which went up to Rs 20,416 crore in1998, Rs 47,919 crore in 2002, Rs 90,956 crore in 2007, Rs 1,51310 crore in 2012, Rs 2,43,360 crore in 2017 and Rs 2,88,910 crore in 2019.
