Shillong Dec 2: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has said the loans availed by the state are within the limits set by the central government and the RBI.
The response is after the Congress president, Vincent Pala, alleged that the state is leading to a debt trap due to high loans.
“I have explained this many times. The state’s loan intake is within limits set by the central government and RBI”, he said.
Sangma said the loans from the World Bank and ADB are on a 90:10 or 80:20 ratio, with the central government covering a significant portion.
“72% is repaid by the central government, 28% is repaid by the state government. So, the question of this being financed through debt does not arise at all,” he said.
The chief minister appealed to the Congress to understand the state’s finances before making comments, saying their attempts to counter the government’s growth story are futile.
“Therefore, the MPCC president is trying to mislead the people, which is quite unfortunate. They are seeing the growth, and they are not finding any way to counter the growth that is taking place, and hence they are misleading the people, which is highly unfortunate, and I would appeal that they should understand the finances before they speak and make such comments,” he added.
New political forum
He also said the Congress is internally divided and doesn’t need external help to be divided
“To be very blunt, nobody needs to work to divide them as they are already divided,” Sangma told journalists in response to Congress chief Vincent H Pala’s allegation that the proposed one Northeast front is backed by the BJP to divide anti-saffron forces.
